I love the Primary song that says:
"Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear,
Things I would ask him to tell me if he were here.
Scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea,
Stories of Jesus, tell them to me."
I believe that starting a tradition of telling
the stories of Jesus to our children and families
is a very special way to keep the Sabbath day
holy in our homes.
This will surely bring a special spirit to our home
and provide our family with examples from the Savior
Himself.
I love to study and ponder the life of Him who gave everything
for me and for all of us.
I love to read scriptural passages
about His sinless life, and after reading the scriptures
which tell about the events experienced by Him,
I close my eyes and try to visualize
these sacred moments that teach me
and strengthen me spiritually.
Moments such as:
When He spat on the ground and, having
made clay of the spittle, anointed
the eyes of the blind man and said unto him,
"Go, wash in the pool of Siloam."
And the man obeyed, "and washed, and came seeing."
When He healed the woman who had an issue of blood
and touched the border of His garment,
believing that just by touching Him she would be healed.
When He appeared to His disciples,
walking upon the sea.
When He went with the disciples on the road to Emmaus
and opened their understanding to the scriptures.
When He appeared to the people here in the Americas
and told them to come unto Him and thrust their hands
into His side and feel the prints of the nails
in His hands and His feet so they
could know that He was "the God of Israel,
and the God of the whole earth, and [had]
been slain for the sins of the world."
I rejoice in knowing there are parents who tell stories
of Christ to their children.
I notice this as I watch children
in the Church in Primary programs and other occasions.
I am grateful to my parents for having taught me about Christ.
I continue to see how the Savior's example helps
my dear wife and me as we teach our own children.
My heart is filled with joy when I see my children tell stories
of Christ to my grandchildren.
It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures,
found in 3 John 1:4, which reads,
"I have no greater joy than to hear
that my children walk in truth."
And why not our grandchildren as well?
I am grateful for our leaders who are constantly teaching us
about Christ, about keeping the Sabbath day holy,
and about partaking of the sacrament each Sunday
in honor of the Savior.
The Sabbath and the sacrament become much more enjoyable
as we study the stories of Christ.
In so doing, we create traditions
that build our faith and testimony
and also protect our family.
A few weeks ago, while studying again the message
President Russell M. Nelson delivered
in the last general conference, and while pondering
on the Sabbath day, I felt a deep gratitude
for the blessing and privilege of being able to partake
of the sacrament.
For me that is a very solemn, sacred, and spiritual moment.
I greatly enjoy sacrament meeting.
While pondering, I carefully studied the blessing
on the bread and the water.
I read and deeply meditated on the prayers and the ordinance
of the sacrament.
I began to go over in my mind and in my heart
the events that are connected to it.
In a spirit of meditation, I reflected
upon that day, the first day of the feast
of the unleavened bread, when He,
in response to His disciples' question
about where to prepare for the Passover,
answered unto them, saying, "Go into the city to such a man,
and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand;
I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples."
I tried to visualize in my mind the disciples buying food
and carefully preparing the table to eat with Him on that
special day: a table for 13 people--He and His twelve
disciples, whom He loved.
I cried as I visualized Christ eating with them, when
He declared, "Verily I say unto you, that one of you
shall betray me."
I thought about the saddened disciples asking Him, "Lord,
is it I?"
And when Judas asked Him the same question,
He replied calmly, "Thou hast said."
I could visualize hands that had healed, comforted, edified,
and blessed, breaking the bread as Jesus said, "Take, eat;
this is my body."
Then He took a cup filled with wine and gave thanks
and gave the cup to them, saying, "Drink ye all of it;
for this is my blood of the new testament, which
is shed for many for the remission of sins."
In my mind I looked at the disciples one by one
and saw in their eyes their concern
for the Master, whom they loved greatly.
It was as if I was sitting there with them, watching everything.
I felt an intense pain in my heart,
full of grief and sorrow for what He
was about to experience for me.
My soul was filled by an overwhelming desire
to be a better person.
In repentance and sorrow, I fervently
wished to be able to dry and avoid
the spilling of at least a few drops of His blood shed
in Gethsemane.
I then pondered about the sacrament
we partake every week in remembrance of Him.
While doing so, I meditated upon each word of the blessing
on the bread and the water.
I deeply reflected about the words "and always remember him"
in the blessing on the bread and "that they do always
remember him" in the blessing on the water.
I meditated on what it means to always remember Him.
To me, it means:
To remember His premortal life, when this beautiful planet was
made by Him.
To remember His humble birth in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.
And when even as a 12-year-old boy,
He taught and preached to the doctors in the temple.
To remember when He went aside privately into a desert
place to prepare for His mortal ministry.
And when He was transfigured before His disciples.
To remember when He instituted the sacrament
at the Last Supper with them.
And went to the Garden of Gethsemane
and suffered so intensely for our sins, pains,
disappointments, illnesses, that He bled from every pore.
To remember when, after so much suffering and severe pain,
even yet in Gethsemane, He was betrayed with a kiss
by one of the disciples whom He called a friend.
And when He was taken to Pilate and to Herod for trial.
And when He was humiliated, buffeted, spat upon, smote,
and scourged with a whip that tore his flesh.
And when a crown of thorns was brutally put upon His head.
To remember that He had to carry his own cross to Golgotha
and that He was nailed to the cross
there, suffering every physical and spiritual pain.
And when at the cross, with His bowels full of charity,
He looked at those who crucified Him and raised
His eyes to heaven, pleading, "Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do."
To remember when He, knowing He had fulfilled
His mission of saving all mankind,
gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father,
our Father.
To remember His Resurrection, which
ensures our own resurrection and the possibility
to live beside Him for all eternity,
depending on our choices.
Furthermore, meditating on the sacrament prayer
and the very special and meaningful words of the prayer
reminds me how wonderful it is to receive the promise,
during the blessing of the sacrament,
that as we always remember Him, we will always
have His Spirit with us.
I believe the Lord has His own timing as to when
to give revelation unto us.
I understood this very clearly while
studying Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6, which reads:
"To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven: ...
"A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep,
and a time to cast away."
The sacrament is also a time for Heavenly Father to teach us
about the Atonement of His Beloved Son--our Savior,
Jesus Christ--and for us to receive revelation about it.
It is a time to "knock, and it shall be opened unto you,"
to request and to receive this knowledge.
It is a time for us to reverently ask
God for this knowledge.
And if we do, I have no doubt that we
will receive this knowledge, which will
bless our lives beyond measure.
I love the Sabbath, the sacrament, and what it means.
I love the Savior with all my soul.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.