Sunday Report

Dear Sisters,

What a busy week!

Announcements:  Tuesday night  Dec 8th is the Relief Society Christmas Dinner at the Anderson Barn at 6:30.  Come enjoy a lovely meal and a great evening with your Cedar River Ward sisters.  A white elephant gift exchange is planned so go treasure hunting in the attic or basement and join the fun.  Call another sister to come with you or bring a neighbor or friend.  Ward Christmas Party Friday night Dec 11th at the building, also known as Zarahemla at least for that evening, at 6:00 PM.Dinner and a program will make it a wonderful evening.  Come in appropriate Zarahemla attire if you wish.  Again share this with friends or neighbors.

Today's lesson was the presidency message given by Sister Merrily Seely.  She started by asking us to think about how we can help ourselves and our families be more aware of how mindful Heavenly Father is of each one of us.It is so important that each one of us feels of God's love for us each day, but even more so at those times when we feel particularly weak spiritually, discouraged or unable to do those things we know we should.  The scriptures are replete with references to the great love that both Heavenly Father and Jesus feel for us.  Moses 1:39 tells us that God's work and glory is to bring us, every one of us, back to live eternally in His presence.  God so loved the world (His spirit children) that He gave His only begotten Son to redeem us so that we might be able to return.  We can begin to feel this depth of love and commitment in various ways here in mortality:  through parenthood, through experiencing trials in our own life and learning to cope with them and thereby becoming more compassionate to the trials and challenges of others are but two ways we begin to feel the love that God has for each one of us.  We need to share our knowledge of this great gift with those closest to us and to all with whom we come in contact.  This is what brings peace and hope and joy into an otherwise bleak lone and dreary world, knowing that God loves us and beginning to learn to love as He does.  This is the knowledge that will prepare us for the work of eternity.  Charity, the pure love of Christ (which He learned from our Heavenly Father) will make this life sweeter and us more fit to do His work forever.  We should reflect on the great love at this season particularly, for we are celebrating the birth of Him who came into the world to fulfill the mission of HIs Father, to do what needed to be done that we might have immortality and be able to qualify for eternal life.
Have a great week and seek to remember and help others remember how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father.

The Relief Society Presidency