Every so often in our lives we experience a moment that takes our breath away. A moment when our heart swells beyond its normal size, when a sudden warmth washes over us from head to toe, while at the same time chills create goose bumps up our arms and down our legs, and a tingling sensation reaches out to the tips of our fingers and toes.
For me, when that moment happens, tears quickly well up in my eyes, my lower lip trembles and I get a sudden case of the sniffles.
Such are moments found in movies like, "Field of Dreams", when Ray Kinsella asks his father, "Hey Dad, you wanna have a catch?", or in "Powder", when the Father (Sheriff) and son, who have been estranged for a long while, embrace after the wife/mother passes away from cancer.
Despite Hollywood's many failings to our society, they do occasionally get it right and create a moment that is unforgettable. Well, if you can grasp what I'm saying here, if you can close your eyes and remember those scenes and let those feelings wash over you again, then you have some idea of what Christmas 2012 was like for me.
You see, it began with a great deal of anxiety, excitement and preparation. D-day, so to speak, was Thursday, December 20th. The hour, 12:35pm. The event, my wife's arrival on a U.S. Airways flight from Salt Lake City after not having seen her in over four months. Her visit was to last one week, but fortunately for me, a busy holiday flight schedule and a stubborn Buddy Pass granted me two extra days. Not that I prayed for the extra days, but a secret part of me might have wished for the extra time (Shhh, don't tell my wife that).
Standing at the Fresno-Yosemite International Airport (go ahead and laugh at that, I still do), also officially recognized by the FAA with the acronym FAT, I was watching a giant screen television monitor just outside the area where passengers exit the security portion of the terminal. The screen showed the very long hallway that passengers had to walk from the gates to the lobby. So I'm standing there, waiting and watching with baited breath, as passenger after passenger appears on the screen, hoping to get a glimpse of my wife wending her way towards me. The flight was delayed by 40 minutes, so my watching was impatient and intense.
Finally, FINALLY, there she was towing her luggage the length of the hallway, and YES, I found myself suddenly having a moment. What a feeling that was! I needed to pinch myself to make sure it was real, and even then, I ONLY saw her on a monitor, so does that mean she's real? Surely, maybe, hopefully, and YES, as she came walking through the exit doors towards me, my moment was exceeding moment-status and I found myself experiencing an event. The event was a string of moments tacked onto one another. An event translates into excessive heart swelling, wave after wave of warmth and goose bumps battling for control of my body, control I obviously lack as tears the size of boulders well up in my eyes. Now, my lower lip did not tremble, just my hands out of shear nervousness. And of course, sniffles and no Kleenex.
Wrapping my arms around Helena was the beginning of my Christmas holiday. It was the first in a string of gifts I would get to enjoy while she was here. Each gift building on the last in terms of happiness, contentment and comfort. You can't put a price on this kind of gift as they are priceless. Just ask President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor to the Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In a 2012 Christmas message, President Uchtdorf taught that there is a temporal value and a spiritual value to the Christmas gifts we give one another. The world focuses too much on the temporal, when it is the spiritual that matters most. The talk was entitled, "The Good and Grateful Receiver". I found myself reflecting on the counsel Jesus Christ gives us in
Matthew 6:19-21...
19¶Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
And so there I was, holding...embracing, a wonderful, remarkable, and very lovely woman in my arms. My wife. Let me type that again. MY WIFE! And in that moment, and throughout that event, the planets were aligned, sunbeams broke through the tule fog that is Fresno, and balance was achieved in the universe.
Though there was temporal and spiritual value to my Helena joining me this Christmas, it is the spiritual value that matters most. You see the spiritual value of her gift to me translates into treasures I can lay up in Heaven. Faith, obedience, charity, love, selflessness, service, kindness, a warm smile, eyes that sparkle, and a desire to do the will of my Heavenly Father; those are treasures I can lay up in Heaven. Treasures that will please my Heavenly Father and my oldest brother, my Savior and Redeemer, even Jesus Christ.
So with that gift, comes a great deal of gratitude to her and for her, and to the Lord for making this happen.
And there are greater treasures yet in store to be laid up. However, those treasures can only be offered in partnership with my wife. Specifically, a marriage that is sealed for time and all eternity. An objective! A goal! And one day, an accomplishment.
To my wife I say, "Thank you my dearest for being you. For being my best and most cherished friend, and the love of my life. No matter where I am, you are always at the center of my heart where it is warmest and most tender".
I look forward to the remainder of our days together where we, as husband and wife, will share, learn and grow together to become what the Lord has in mind for us. I believe we will both help one another reach our potential in this life and the life to come. We are following a path, setting out to make ourselves a happy life, and I am confident that we will indeed get there and enjoy many blessings from our Heavenly Father. This will all happen soon.
We are sweethearts! One day soon, we will be sweethearts forever.
I love you wife!
Greg "The Good and Grateful Receiver" of all that is you!
