The Polar Express and Seeing the Lord's Hand

I would like to begin my words today by introducing an analogy from an oft-told story of belief and its effects.  In The Polar Express, we read (and now watch) the story of "Hero Boy," a young lad from Grand Rapids, Michigan who struggles with his belief in Santa Claus.  One Christmas Eve he sees his parents settings presents under the tree, and is about to give up all hope when a mysterious train with a mysterious conductor stops outside his house, beckoning him take a ride to the North Pole.  He enters the Polar Express, and with many other pajama-clad children arrives just in time for all the elves to send Santa on his way to bring presents to all the children of the world.  But before Santa is to go off into the night he chooses this boy from Grand Rapids to receive the first gift of Christmas.  Though the boy knows he can have anything in the world, he chooses to have one of the pure-ringing bells from off Santa's sleigh.

Though the boy cherishes this gift more than anything, some time along the return trip he realizes that he has lost the bell.  He returns home before Christmas morning believing that he'd never see the bell again; however, the last gift that the boy's sister finds is a small box with the bell, and a note from Santa saying that he had found the bell on his sleigh.  The boy and his sister hear the pure sound of the bell, but their parents cannot hear it, and assume it to be broken.  Perhaps the most famous lines from the book are what follow:

At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.

The boy never lost his conviction that Santa was real, and that  there is truly a magic that comes with Christmas.  Now, as this week we transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas celebrations, I would like to emphasize the importance of seeing the Lord's hand in our lives.  Seeing His hand takes simple gratitude a step further in my mind, as we are grateful to the Lord for directing our paths; we are admitting that the things in our lives that go well are not of our own doing, but are directly a result of the Lord's desire to bless us.

In my opinion, truly seeing the Lord's mark on our day-to-day lives is not something that comes easily; developing such eyes takes constant effort, prayer, and supplication.  And once we see the Lord's hand it only becomes easier if we strive to see it day after day after arduous day.  In spite of the great difficulty with which we must strive to see divinity in our daily walk, the Lord sincerely and perfectly wants to bless us with these "eyes to see."  He'd have us become after the manner of men in Luke 12:36:

And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

I think that only way that we can become those who open "unto him immediately" is if we experience a change of heart, and are softened to the point that we may be used more readily for the Lord's eternal purposes (see a previous post, "On Softening Hearts and Baseball Gloves" for more); once we are being used on a constant basis, the pump is primed for us to see that the Lord is in fact leading us by the hand.  Our faith will grow, and we will be able to speak as did Jacob in the Book of Mormon:

For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure? (Jacob 4:9)

I testify that we are the workmanship of the Lord's hands.  As I've striven to see His hand, I've only time and again been  impressed by this simple fact.  I testify that it is within God's will and pleasure that we see his hand, and return in gratitude for his divine involvement blessings upon the heads of those around us.  In the verse above Jacob is essentially saying, "why not us?"  And why not us?  God is no respecter of persons.  He wants to bless us all liberally "that there shall not be room enough to receive [them]."  (Malachi 3:10)  Now is the time for all of us to see the Lord's hand, put off the natural man, and truly see that we are the workmanship of his hands.  And like the "Hero Boy," we will hold onto that precious Gift for as long as we live.  Others will forget the sweet sound of the song of redeeming love (see Alma 5:26), but as we continually turn ourselves over to Him, we will not.  We will hear His voice for as long as he calls.

This is my hope and prayer for all who desire to see His hand.  Let us always be grateful unto Him for the tender mercies which he provides us each and every day.

Have a great week!