My Christmas Miracle

December 27,2010

This Christmas was a little different from normal. I didn't get to spend it with my immediate family, I didn't open a million presents, I didn't sit around the house being unproductive. Instead I spent it with 5 sisters who have come to be my friends, with my district who I will miss greatly when we go our separate ways and get started on our own missions, and with Christ as I spent a Christmas truly focusing on him and on what this day represents.

Though I loved Christmas this year, I won't pretend it was easy. The differences, though wonderful, were difficult to deal with. The differences of the past nine weeks have been difficult to deal with. I've missed the freedom of my old life, especially the staying up late and staring at the night sky till the sun rays once again burst over the horizon and wash away the stars. I've really missed the stars. Through my whole life, the stars have always been one of those places that I felt at peace. When life got to hectic down on earth and I just didn't understand anything that was going on, I turned to the sky. The stars are understandable, peaceful, and still. The stars are always waiting for me, eternal celestial friends.

These past nine weeks have been particularly difficult, and the fact that I couldn't just turn to the sky made it more so. Even if I got a chance to step outside and glance up, the sky has been covered in clouds for nearly nine weeks straight. Even Christmas Day was mostly grey and cloudy. But miracles do happen...

Christmas night, after the last fireside ended and we were allowed to head back to our rooms for the night, I looked up. I didn't expect to see much other than clouds, but I was wrong. As I glanced up I saw Jupiter, hanging in the night sky like a diamond with the stars of heaven spread out around it. There were my stars, watching me like always. The clouds were gone, answering a silent prayer that had resided in my heart for days. I only had a few seconds before I was back in another building, but I got to see them anyways.

The next morning was once again clouded over, hardly a scrap of blue all day.