Ye shall find the babe....lying in a manger!

Babies! What wonderful news to learn that new babies will be born in 2008 to the Robison posterity. Jenny and Karenin (and perhaps another sibling soon) have announced great news.

Christmas is a time we think about a new born baby in particular, even our Lord and Savior. I hope each of our grandchildren will sit by the fire and have read to them the words from Luke 2: 4-17

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manager; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddelnly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made know abroad the saying whcih was told them concerning this child.

Let's talk about the wonder of a baby coming into the world. A favorite poem of mine about babies was penned by William Woodsworth:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting
The soul that rises with us, our life's star
Hath had elsewhere its setting
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forget fulness,
And not in utter nakedness
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God who is our home.

In a tribute to the birth of the prophet Joseph Smith, I came across a quote about babies that intrigued me from F.M. Bareham, written about sixty years ago:

"A century ago (in 1809) men were following with bated breath the march of Napoleon and waiting with feverish impatience for news of the wars. And all the while in their homes babies were being born. Who could think about babies? Everybody was thinking about battles. In one year between Trafalgar and Waterloo there stole into the world a host of heroes: Gladstone was born in Liverpool; Tennyson at the Somersby Rectory; and Oliver Wendall Holmes in Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and music was enriched by the advent of Felix Mendelssohn in Hamburg." (We might add, and Joseph Smith was born in Vermont, four years earlier.) The quoting F. M. Bareham further:"But nobody thought of babies, everybody was thinking of battles. Yet which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809? We fancy God can manage His world only with great battalions, when all the time, He is doing it with beautiful babies."

President Kimball quoted that in his tribute to the birth of Joseph Smith, and then in that same speech spoke of babies in this context:

"When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants discovering, God sends a baby into the world to do it. While most of the thousands of precious infants born every hour will never be known outside their neighborhoods, there are great souls being born who will rise above their surroundings.....one mother gives us a Shakespeare, another a Michelangelo, and other an Abraham Lincoln. When theologians are reeling and stumbling, when lips are pretending and hearts are wandering, and people are running to and fro, seeking teh word of the Lord and cannot find it--when clouds of error need dissipating and spiritual darkness needs penetrating and heavens need opening, a little infant is born."

What a wonderful way to conclude 2007 - to celebrate the birth of the Savior and Joseph Smith and anticipate the births of new grandchildren in 2008.

Family Home Evening Activity:

1. Read Matthew 2: 1-12 (or memorize) while sitting by the fire and the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
2. Act out Luke 2:4-17
3. Tell the story of what is was like for the family when the previous babies were born and how happy everyone was.
4. Look at the baby pictures of each of the grandchildren
5. Bear each other your testimony about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

6. Bake some cookies together that you can give away on Christmas Day to a neighbor