If heaven is nothing more than this, it will be good enough for me!'"

 

“If we have faith in Jesus Christ,

the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing.”

 

A Brother Like That

A friend of mine named Paul received a new car from his brother as a pre-Christmas present.  On Christmas Eve, when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.

“Is this your car, mister?” he asked.

Paul nodded.  “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.”

The boy looked astounded.  “You mean your brother gave it to you, and it didn’t cost you anything? 

Gosh, I wish…..”

He hesitated, and Paul knew what he was going to wish.  He was going to wish he had a brother like that.  But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.

“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.”

Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively added, “Would you like a ride in my new car?”

“Oh, yes, I’d love that!”

After a short ride the urchin turned, and with his eyes aglow said,

“Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

Paul smiled a little.  He thought he knew what the lad wanted.  He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile.  But Paul was wrong again.

“Will you stop right where those steps are?” the boy asked.  He ran up the steps.  Then in a little while, Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast.  He was carrying his little polio-crippled brother.  He sat down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up right against him and pointed to the car.

“There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs.  His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent, and someday I’m gonna give you one just like it; then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out and lifted the little lad into the front seat of his car.  The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when He said, ”It is more blessed to give…..”

“There is no other organization that can so completely satisfy our need for belonging and happiness like the family. Why do we yearn for home and loved ones? I believe this yearning is a universal, God-given instinct that all people in all cultures are blessed with. I also believe that a loving Heavenly Father gives it to us because within the family we experience most of life’s greatest joys. The sights, sounds, and associations of family and home are among our most treasured memories and provide our fondest anticipations. Sometimes after an enjoyable family home evening, during a fervent family prayer, or when our entire family is at the dinner table on Sunday evening eating waffles and engaging in a session of lively, good-natured conversation, I quietly say to myself, íf heaven is nothing more than this, it will be good enough for me!’”

Marlin K. Jensen

“It has been said that Christmas is for children; but as the years of childhood fancy pass away and an understanding maturity takes their place, the simple teaching of the Savior that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” becomes a reality. The evolution from a pagan holiday transformed into a Christian festival to the birth of Christ in men’s lives is another form of maturity that comes to one who has been touched by the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

 

Howard W. Hunter