Editorial Comment – Issue 65

Editorial Comment – Issue 65

October, November, December 2015

This issue of The Hastening Times covers the fourth quarter of the 2015 year. In it are various articles and pictures from the fall Priesthood Assembly and the Women’s Retreat. However, this time period also brings us to the recognition of two holidays celebrated by most all here in the United States, namely, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Fall time is harvest time. The corn has been shucked, the soybeans threshed, and all has been put into the garner. We now get ready for the winter season. The Psalmist says, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High” (Psalms 92:1), and “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalms 100:4). Paul says, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

Our families especially look forward in gleeful anticipation of that special holiday we call Thanksgiving Day.  Where will we gather to dine? What will be the menu? Who will be there?  Who will be absent? The fellowship and gathering of families is so important. But what about those that do not have families to celebrate with? Let us be sure that no one goes alone on this day of Thanksgiving. Our thanks needs to be focused, not so much on the bounty of God’s richest blessing in providing the table set before us, as important as that is, but in the recognition of this, the land of promise (“And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people” (Ether 1:29), and the complete freedom and liberty we enjoy,    and the ability to worship our God and His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as we please. For the bounty of God’s goodness, in all things, we surely give thanks.

The Christmas holiday period is somewhat of a conundrum for us as Latter Day Remnant Saints.  On the one hand, our traditional focus is on the birth of the Lord Jesus, the national holiday being recognized on December 25th. However, many claim Jesus’ birth more correctly occurred in the springtime of the year. The actual date is not as important as is the fact of His birth. Born of a virgin, He was to live a perfect life, to die for our sins, and be resurrected as the Son of the living God. Let us, as Saints of that Most High God, put aside the all too-consuming commercialization of this Christmas season and be about our Father’s business, i.e., seeking righteousness and building up His Kingdom on earth.

From the Quorum of the First Presidency we trust that God will bless each one of you in this time of Thanksgiving and reflection on the true meaning of the coming of the Messiah as that “babe in the manger.”

THE FIRST PRESIDENCY