December 25th is one of my favorite days of the year. I love the decorated Christmas trees, the lights, eggnog, being with family, and seeing boxes wrapped in shiny paper piled under the tree. I love the music and the Christmas spirit that settles on the air. Once December 1st rolls around, the magic of Christmas can be felt.

When I was a kid the colors were just so captivating and exciting. I still love curling up in a blanket at night with all the lights off and watching the lights on the Christmas tree. As I’ve gotten older, though, Christ has most definitely become more of the focus for me.

I know most people associate the Atonement more with Easter, but this year I realized that Christ and the Atonement, for me, go hand in hand. I can’t celebrate Him without celebrating the Atonement, too. Earlier this month that knowledge hit me so strongly one Sunday during Church. I can’t even remember what we were talking about, but my heart just suddenly swelled with gratitude for my Savior.

How wonderful it is that we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior this month!

The Atonement is everything. It’s the center of the Plan of Salvation. It has three parts – Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, His crucifixion on the cross, and then His resurrection three days later. Through the Atonement we can repent of our sins and be made clean. When we mess up we can start over with a clean slate.

On my mission I learned about another aspect of the Atonement that I’d hardly heard about. It’s called the enabling power of the Atonement. This Ensign article I read while out in the field explained a lot about the enabling power.

Basically, through the enabling power of the Atonement, we can receive strength beyond our own. We can receive the capacity to deal with the burden of grief. We can find the strength to forgive someone who has seriously wronged us. We can receive the energy we need to accomplish a task.

January of this year was one of the roughest months of my mission. The first night of my breakdown I knelt by my bed, sobbing, and said over and over, “Please just take this away tonight. Please just take this pain away. Please let me sleep. I need to sleep tonight.”

And I did. I actually slept quite soundly that night and didn’t wake up till the alarm went off [which was quite unusual]. That night the pressure of everything – the area, the hounding from my leaders, the hopelessness I felt, the anger – was all too much for me to carry. I couldn’t that night. I needed help shouldering that burden.

See, when Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, atoning for us, He not only paid the price for our sins. He felt every single thing we will ever feel in this life:

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me. – Alma 7:11-13

That’s why the Atonement is so vital. That’s why it’s so important. Through it we can do everything the Lord requires of us.

The fact that the Savior loves us so much that He was willing to give His life for us fills me with awe. “Fall on your knees, O hear the angels’ voices/O night divine, O night when Christ was born” [“O Holy Night,” Adolphe Adam].

I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I know that He came to earth, born in a stable. That humble beginning mirrored His entire life – one of humility, faith, grace, and thankfulness. He gave His all so that we can have the chance to make it back home to Him and our Heavenly Father. I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. And He rose again on the third day – a glorified, perfected Being.

Christ is hope. Christ is love. Christ is our Savior.

How grateful I am that we can celebrate His birth and remember His life. 🙂

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.