The Gift

So, there's been this song that I've been searching for for quite a long time. It's called "The Gift" and unfortunately that's all I could remember beyond what the song was about and it was made more complicated because Jim Brickman has a song that's also called "The Gift". And so, tonight I was looking for the song, trying to find the lyrics so I could look it up on youtube and I finally found it! This song is so amazing that every time I hear it I always want to cry. The message is so wonderful. It's about an orphaned girl named Maria, who finds a bird with a broken wing and decides she's going to nurse the bird and get it's wing all better. She buys a cage with the last money she has and puts it in there and takes it with her and everything and then that night (it's christmas time) people are going to the church where there's a gift giving service for the manger there. Well... so many people had brought wonderful gifts like incense and perfumes and diamonds that Maria felt embarrassed because she didn't have anything except for the bird. So she waited 'till midnight so that no one would see how sad she looked and went in crying because she had nothing to give beyond her bird when she suddenly hear's the Lord's voice asking her what it is she's brought, and that she let the bird out so He can see. And as she opens up the cage the bird comes flying out, its wing good as new. Once the bird leaves the bells begin to strike as midnight has come and right then the bird begins to sing its song that no words could say because it was such a sacred tune. All Maria did was sit and listen and realize that the birds' song was a gift fit for a king. Every time I heard how humble she is and how compassionate the Lord is and that he would truly do something like that... I want to cry. The Lord loves every single person in this world. Even if all we have to give is the clothes on our back or a bird that we found on the roadside. My Lord loves me dearly. I know this with such fierce power that I really am beginning to understand why I'm going on a mission. Theres so many people out there who feel lost, or unloved or unworthy or unwanted and they have no idea that there is someone out there who wants them and feels so much love for them. This is why I need to go out and teach people. Because they deserve to feel as if they have someone in their lives they can trust and who will love them unconditionally. If anything, I have learned that the Lord loves unconditionally. And if I hadn't, how could I go out and teach people that the Atonement is real? That our Savior lives and that he Died for us because he feels so much love towards us? Even during the times that I feel alone or unwanted (mostly by boys ;)) I can't ever forget that there is someone who see's how I'm hurting. He knows exactly what I need and he will provide. Even some of the times when I am not asking but just crying out to Him. Somehow... my Lord always finds a way to give me comfort. Whether it's in the form of a friend and the amazing words they have to say about something that had happened or in a simple sign that happened so suddenly. I am so excited to go and teach those who need this gospel and who are ready to hear it! I am so excited to let them know that Someone is watching, and someone knows their deep desires and will help them. I can't help but want to cry when I think about that. Or this song that has such a deep, powerful, spiritual meaning to it. It makes me understand the words in a scripture verse "For I was enhungered and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me. I was imprisoned and ye came unto me."
How wonderful is that? How... amazing and powerful those words are. That someone on this earth has so much compassion to do that for someone else. It also reminds me of The Good Samaritan, how a man was laying on the road side and one of his one kind and one of the other kind (pure blood people) stepped over this man who was hurt and bruised on the side of the road and the only person who would help him was the man of mixed blood whom everyone hated because he didn't have pure blood. How awesome and such a wonderful spirit that person had. To see someone on the side of the road, hurt so badly he can't even move to take himself home, and take that person into his own home even though he knew the man was one of the men who scoffed his kind. Such compassion and what an awesome lesson to learn!

The Gift

A poor orphan girl named Maria
Was walking to market one day
She stopped for a rest by the roadside
Where a bird with a broken wing lay
A few moments passed till she saw it
For its feathers were covered with sand
But soon clean and wrapped it was traveling
In the warmth of Maria's small hand

She happily gave her last peso
On a cage made of rushes and twine
She fed it loose corn from the market
And watched it grow stronger with time

Now the gift giving service was coming
And the church shone with tinsel and light
And all of the townfolks brought presents
To lay by the manger that night
There were diamonds and incense and perfumes
In packages fit for a king
But for one ragged bird in a small cage
Maria had nothing to bring

She waited 'til just before midnight
So no one would see her go in
And crying she knelt by the manger
For her gift was unworthy of Him

Then a voice spoke to her through the darkness
"Maria, what brings you to me?
If the bird in the cage is your offering,
Open the door and let me see."
Though she trembled, she did as He asked her
And out of the cage the bird flew
Soaring up into the rafters
On a wing that had healed good as new

Just then the midnight bells rang out
And the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture
Whose beauty was fit for a king

Now Maria felt blessed just to listen
To that cascade of notes sweet and long
As her offerings was lifted to heaven
By the very first nightingale's song

By: Aselin Debison

So... I've recently been pondering on something that just happened to come up with a friend of mine. We were talking about life and it's challenges and how sometimes, things are not very fun to go through and why we go through them. And then as we were talking, it was mentioned that our Savior had a point in His life where he was a broken person.
For some reason, this surprised me. I'd heard that before but I guess it never registered to me that our very own Savior was broken at one point in time. And that's when He asked the Father "Father, if it be thy will, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done." How horrible that must have felt for Him. To be there, suffering the sins of the world and feeling so broken, but knowing he has to go through that before the wrong can be right. I'm feeling eternally grateful that, not only has the Lord gone through what I'm going through right now, but he can help me get past it and he knows that I need to go through what I'm going through in order to grow in wisdom and knowledge.
I can't express how this makes me feel for it feels to strongly for me but... without my Savior I would be nothing. I'd be a person living life but to what end? I can't even describe how sad it makes me feel to think that if I wasn't born into a family who are the member's of the LDS church, and to think that I had no one I could personally relate to in how I feel. There are people out there I'm sure who feel quite similar but to feel the exact same thing as me? I can't believe that my Savior has that much love for me. He and the Father both know how I feel, and what I'm going through and can even read my thoughts to such an extent that it is discreetly distributed about them in blessings that I've recieved. And I am thoroughly amazed by how true this church is. And how much I want to cry with happiness when I think of my Savior and the sacrifice he faced for me. How personal that is. How.... how everything that I'm going through and will go through, my Savior knows exactly those feelings and thoughts and worries and wonderings and happenings that I truly am never alone.
I don't think that I've ever really felt alone. Not in a sense of divine power. Definitely not. No matter what it is that I go through, I know that my Savior is there just waiting for me to call upon Him. There are times when I feel as if I can't feel that amazing spirit. The spirit of the Lord that I've been gifted. And even when I can't feel the spirit, I know that my Savior is watching and listening to me. I, indeed, have questioned the church. It was a frightening thing but the more I read my scriptures and prayed, how much those quesitons left my head.
I feel grateful that I can read the Scriptures and feel the love of my Heavenly Father. Grateful that I can cry about the joy that I feel (even though I'm not a fan of crying). I am so grateful to know that I'm being taken care of. No matter where I go, or what kinds of bad or good decisions I make, the Lord is always watching and has a hand in every single thing I do. An influence upon my soul. I honestly don't know how I'd survive without the gift of the Holy Ghost. I don't know how people can do it. How they can live through life not knowing this feeling. And as time goes by, I'm grateful that I've got the opportunity to serve a mission. There are people there that I, Me, am supposed to teach that only I can really give them the influence to study more thoroughly this church. What an awesome feeling and to be able to know with such great certainty that they can find happiness within it, even when going through hard times, what a difference it will make in there lives. I'm grateful to know how close the Savior is to me. And that he's felt what I've felt and that I can let Him know without feeling ashamed because I've kept the secret or something like that. I'm grateful that He gives me courage and to be brave. And I'm so grateful that I've got the scriptures that I can rely upon. How wonderful they are. What a gift we've been given. These scriptures are like a lifeline to me. By reading my scriptures I can feel the power of the spirit coming upon me and pushin Satan away. Satan and his temptations that he tries to weild upon my heart. How grateful I am to know that I have the strenght to fight and to win. That my Savior is there right by my side and will never, EVER let me down. Even when I can't see what it is he's trying to do for me. And as much as I dislike not knowing what the purpose is for what I'm going through or whatnot, I'm grateful to know that there's a reason and not some dead end road I'm being led to.

And again, I'm so grateful that the Savior atoned for my sins. That I can read upon His words and take comfort in the fact that I'm not the only one who feels this kind of sorrow. That my Savior has felt the same thing and knows how I would handle a certain situation. How he can be by my side spiritually and lead me towards the path most rewarding and worth it for me personally. Such grattitude I feel.