On the 3rd Day of Christmas Past…
Question: What can we learn from today’s story about giving gifts?
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The Touching Meaning Behind Poinsettias and How It Relates to Latter-day Saints
The flower came from Mexico, where it is called flor de Nochebuena—the Flower of the Holy Night. It was first brought to the United States by Joel Roberts Poinsett in 1830. That’s how it got its English name, and since 1830 is the same year the Church was organized, I think it should have a little extra meaning for Latter-day Saints.
According to the legend, the first flor de Nochebuena appeared many years ago in a small Mexican village where people were preparing to celebrate Christmas. As the special day approached, the local priest asked a woman in his parish to weave a blanket to place beneath the statue of the baby Jesus at the church on Christmas Eve. The woman’s daughter, Luz, felt proud that her mother had been chosen for such an honor, but as Christmas drew nearer, Luz’s mother became gravely ill. Her father prepared to take his wife to the hospital far away in the big city. Luz was worried about her mother, but also about the blanket.
Discerning her thoughts, Luz’s father said, “The priest will have to understand.” But Luz worried that the priest would not understand, and neither would their friends and neighbors. Everyone was counting on her mother, and now they would have nothing for the baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. Luz determined to finish the weaving on her own. But the harder she tried, the worse the blanket became until eventually, it was nothing more than a tangled mess.
When Christmas Eve came, instead of going to the church, Luz hid behind her small house. An old woman saw her and approached. “What’s wrong, child?” the woman asked.
“I have nothing to take for the procession of the gifts,” Luz sobbed. “My mother was supposed to weave the blanket for the manger, but she became sick, and now there is nothing to place beneath the baby Jesus.”
The old woman pointed to the weeds growing nearby and said, “Take those. They will make a comfortable bed for the baby.”
Luz stared at the woman in disbelief. How could she take weeds to the Savior?
The old woman explained, “Any gift is beautiful when it is given with love.” She gathered an armful of weeds and held them out to Luz, who obediently took them and headed to the church.
When Luz entered the church, she heard the people gasp as they saw her carrying weeds instead of the expected blanket. Luz thought about turning to leave, but the priest smiled and beckoned for her to continue forward. She approached the manger and gently placed the weeds around the statue of baby Jesus. As she did, suddenly the green weeds were tipped with beautiful red leaves. They looked like flaming stars. The manger began to glow and shimmer as if lit by hundreds of candles. A hush fell over the congregation. The old woman was right. Any gift is beautiful when it is given with love. And—according to the legend—every Christmas since that day, the red stars have shone atop green branches in Mexico and all over the world.1
The legend of this story is a beautiful reminder of the love with which we should give gifts to each other, but also of the gift of grace the Savior lovingly gives to us. In the legend, the weeds were made beautiful, and that is exactly how Christ can change and transform us. “Be not conformed to this world,” Paul wrote, “but be ye transformed” (Romans 12:2). Because of grace—divine help—not only can we repent, be resurrected, and return to God, but we can become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
Sometimes we become so comfortable with how we are now we don’t recognize the need for change. We become content with being weeds and forget that God has something better in store for us. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “The Lord loves each of us too much to merely let us go on being what we now are, for He knows what we have the possibility to become.”2
It doesn’t matter whar the gift is when given with love
When we give gifts with love, we are giving as the Savior gave and the gift is beautiful in His eyes. Just as the weeds were transformed, we can also be transformed through His love for us.
When a gift is given with love there will always be beauty in it. Sometimes we don’t see it at first & we need to look closely.
All of us have gifts to share. No matter how humble they are, the Savior will make them beautiful if we give them with love for Him.
The gifts of love are precious and mean more than any worldly possession. No matter what we give, if given from the heart, God will magnify it.
After we give all that we can, sometimes our focus is on the wrong type of gift. Or maybe we simply have done all that we can. Whatever the case, our efforts are accepted.
Through Christ, true Beauty can be found and seen. May we all have a desire to look and strive for that.
We can only give what we have. Have we not all received a treasured note from a child with a few misspelled words? Have we not all rejoiced at a picture drawn or colored by a little one who could not “stay in the lines?” All of our gifts are imperfect in some way, but the act of giving is love.
It’s not really the gift that is important, it is the intent of the heart of the giver. The Savior magnifies the gifts we give when they are given in pure love.
Give the best gift you have to give in Love and it will transformed and should be accepted/received with the same Love–
It’s the thought that counts. Any gift can be magical when given out of love.
The gift of love and from your heart is the best gift. Give yourself to Christ.
A gift does not have to be expensive or large. The simplest of gifts when given love are beautiful.