You Belong!

Every year at Christmastime I try to get the ‘perfect’ Sunday picture of my kids after church. I had planned to do it today, and then the baby had an epic blowout at church and ended up in his PJs. I almost decided to just forget about getting my ‘perfect’ picture, but then I thought a jammy clad baby wasn’t a good enough reason to give up on it all together, so we still made it happen and ended up with this cute photograph.

In this picture, my baby is surrounded by his siblings in their Sunday best. He most definitely isn’t dressed like them, he can’t really talk to them (yet), and you can see by the look on his face that he’s not even sure he wanted to be part of this picture. But as you keep looking, you can also see that his siblings love him. Every one of them said they HAD to be touching him for this photo. Every one of them expressed the desire to be the one to get to hold him. Every one of them tried their best to get a smile from him.

I know there are times when all of us have experienced the equivalent of our own ‘epic blowout’ in life, the kind that leaves us feeling like all we are doing is managing and cleaning up the crap. As we try to get through and recover we feel like the best we can do physically, mentally, and emotionally is just ‘put on our PJs’ and go through the motions. It’s time like this that make it hard to do things like go to church on Sunday, because we look around us and all we see is everyone in their Sunday best…and all our struggles and shortcomings and imperfections seem to clamor loudly and proclaim to us that we don’t belong here.

But how could you look at this sweet picture of my kids and say my baby doesn’t belong? He does! He most definitely belongs, and it is evident he is surrounded by people who love him, even if he isn’t fully aware of it himself.

I want to say to anyone in my church family today…you belong! Despite whatever struggles or imperfections you feel you have, you most definitely belong and there are people to surround you with love and compassion. Most importantly, I know the Savior, Jesus Christ knows you and loves you and wants you to feel of His love. Not just during this Christmas season, but all year long.

“If you expect to find perfect people here, you will be disappointed. But if you seek the pure doctrine of Christ, the word of God “which healeth the wounded soul,” and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost, then here you will find them. In this age of waning faith—in this age when so many feel distanced from heaven’s embrace—here you will find a people who yearn to know and draw closer to their Savior by serving God and fellowmen, just like you. Come, join with us!”

  -Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Come, Join With Us”, Ensign, November 2013