“Christmas Is Hope, Peace, and Love,” For the Strength of Youth, Feb. 2024.
Christmas Is Hope, Peace, and Love
At Christmastime, we focus on the hope, peace, and love Jesus Christ offers the world.
Heaven’s Gift, by Dan Wilson
The promised birth of Jesus Christ brought “great light” (Isaiah 9:2) and “good tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:10) to the world. Christmastime is the perfect opportunity to focus our hearts and minds on the Christ Child born so long ago and the hope, peace, and love that the message of His gospel brings into our hearts as we willingly follow Him.
Lead, Kindly Light, by Simon Dewey
Hope in the Savior
A few years ago, a 19-month-old girl, Hope Gentile, was diagnosed with a tumor in her lower back. “Over the next five months of surgeries and chemotherapy,” Hope’s father, Nicholas, said, “Hope’s battle for life created a kaleidoscope of experiences.”
One night during Hope’s second five-day round of chemotherapy, Brother Gentile noticed how much hair she had lost. Her remaining strawberry blonde wisps painfully reminded him of her mortality. Nevertheless, he found solace in the Lord’s promise that “a hair of [her] head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:116).
“I felt that Jesus Christ was deeply aware of Hope’s journey—and our heartache,” Brother Gentile said. “He did ‘not leave [us] comfortless’” (John 14:18).
During bedtime one evening as he read a board book to Hope, Brother Gentile asked in a silly voice, “What does the owl say?” Giggling, Hope replied, “Hoo, hoo!” Then he asked, “What does the cow say?” Hope proudly responded, “Moo, moo!”
At that moment, a picture of the Savior in Hope’s bedroom caught Brother Gentile’s attention. The Spirit prompted him to ask, “Hope, and what does Jesus say?”
Hope snuggled into his shoulder, opened her big blue eyes, and whispered, “‘Hold you.’ Jesus says, ‘Hold you.’”
Brother Gentile gently hugged Hope’s tiny body and deeply sobbed. As Hope hugged back, she whispered, “Love you, Dada.”
Hope’s trial and uncertain future drew Brother Gentile, his wife, Christina, and their family closer—to each other and to the Savior. “Jesus was holding our family in His loving arms,” Brother Gentile said. “I have pondered the tender truth God taught me through my daughter’s words: Jesus will hold us and bless us during our trials if we let Him.”1
Hope Gentile, four days before her first chemotherapy treatment in March 2015.
Peace in Christ
I am happy to report that the Gentile family’s faith and prayers were answered. Today, Hope is a healthy, happy 10-year-old.
But what of those times when God’s answer is not what we had hoped? Can peace come in the midst of personal heartache?
Yes! Peace is always found as we turn to the Savior, whose birth in Bethlehem we celebrate this season. At Christmastime, our personal trials, grief, and illness can ofttimes feel at odds with our Christmas celebrations. But our testimony of the Savior’s birth, death, and resurrection provides peace and joy.
Our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, taught us:
“Just as the Savior offers peace that ‘passeth all understanding’ [Philippians 4:7], He also offers an intensity, depth, and breadth of joy that defy human logic or mortal comprehension. For example, it doesn’t seem possible to feel joy when [a] child suffers with an incurable illness or when you lose your job … Yet that is precisely the joy the Savior offers. His joy is constant, assuring us that our ‘afflictions shall be but a small moment’ [Doctrine and Covenants 121:7] and be consecrated to our gain [2 Nephi 2:2].”2
When the Lord speaks comfort to our souls, we can join with the “multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13–14). We can “come … joyful and triumphant”3 unto Christ and feel His “heavenly peace.”4
The Gift of Love
The Father knows you perfectly—your trials and imperfections, your longings and losses. Because He loves you, He has given you the greatest gift you could ever receive.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Because the Son likewise loves you, He willingly gave His life for you.
The gift of God’s Only Begotten Son means lasting hope and peace made possible through the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection. “The main reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Easter,” President Nelson reminds us. “Because of Jesus Christ, we can repent and be forgiven of our sins. Because of Him, each of us will be resurrected.”5
Illustration by Dan Burr
Reading the sacred accounts of the Savior’s birth in the New Testament is at the center of many of our favorite Christmas traditions, but let us not forget that we would not have Christmas without His Atonement and Resurrection. The Book of Mormon testifies of the reality of the risen Christ as well as the richness and depth of His doctrine. If you use the truths about Christ found within its pages during the Christmas season and share it with others, you will add more meaning to your Christmas celebrations.
I testify that the Savior’s love and central role in the plan of salvation bring peace (see John 14:27) and “a more excellent hope” (Ether 12:32)—at Christmastime and always.