All Things

When I was at BYU I took multiple religion classes from Todd Parker. One of my most memorable lessons learned in one of his classes was the gospel principle that all things testify of Christ. He gave example after example of things in our world, things we experience, that can all be paralleled to the Savior. As I've been thinking about embarking on a New Year, I realized yet another example of this principle. I think it's more than appropriate that the New Year comes just the week after Christmas. The holidays soften our hearts. Beginning with the gratitude at Thanksgiving, our hearts and minds continue to soften through Christmas. Our focus shifts from ourselves and as we focus on Jesus Christ, we reach out to others and feel the blessings of charity. The grand finale of it all is the New Year, a chance for all of us to set goals and start anew. It finally clicked for me how fitting it is that the New Year is the capstone for the holiday season. Annually, packed into a 6 week period, we have the opportunity to reflect on our blessings, reflect on the Savior, and make changes. It is truly the Savior that softens our hearts and inspires us to change, and the Atonement is what makes it possible for us to change. The New Year is almost a celebration of the Atonement- the chance we have to repent and improve! We set goals because of Christ. We feel inspired to because of Christ. And we can improve because of Christ. It is more than a coincidence in calendaring. All things testify of Christ.