The Great And Wonderful Love: Day 1

On the 1st day of Christmas, Christ gave me… Love.

President Joseph F. Smith, just before he died, was in the act of pondering 1) “the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God” 

And 2) “the great & wonderful love made manifest by the Father & the Son in the coming of the Redeemer into the world” (D&C 138:2-3)

Great Sacrifice. Great Love.

With such reflection came an unbelievably significant & mind-blowing revelation for President Smith- one that explained Peter’s Biblical words about Christ preaching to the spirits in prison. 

One that revealed Christ as the Savior to All. ALL.

Even those “who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets.” (32)

The spirit world is a place of learning & growing?! How incredible it is to know we still have opportunities, change, & progression AFTER we die! 

What a gift!

Death is not the end! Not for our physical bodies, not for our minds, not for our souls! Not for our relationships! Not even for our agency! God’s grace is sufficient. His plan is eternal.

His love is as merciful as it is incomprehensible. 

“And the saints rejoiced in their redemption, & bowed the knee & acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer & Deliverer from death & the chains of hell. Their countenances shone, & the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, & they sang praises unto his holy name.” (23-24)

As the bearer of much pain in his life, as the orphaned child of a murdered father & dead mother, as the mourner of 13 of his children’s deaths, as a witness to the havoc wreaked by war & the Spanish flu, weeks before his own death Joseph F. Smith said, “I have not lived alone these [last] five months. I have dwelt in the spirit of prayer, of supplication, of faith & of determination; & I have had my communication with the Spirit of the Lord continuously.”

Now that’s the way to prepare for revelation!

How fitting, how comforting, how impactful his vision of the spirit world must have been! How real the divine role of Christ must have felt!

The role that on earth began as a baby in a manger, come to save us all.

A great & wonderful love, indeed.