THE EMBRACE

 

In his dying sermon Lehi alluded to the physical symbol of the reconciliation between God and man: “The Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld His glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of His love” (2 Nephi 1:15). This reconciliation is brought about through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the symbol is ‘the embrace’ (see Tad Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 28).

Imagine yourself coming to the gates of celestial kingdom and being met there by the Saviour who is the gatekeeper because ‘He employs no servant there’ (2 Nephi 9:41). In the eloquent words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

“I will tell you….out of the conviction of my soul…what I think the major reason is why He ‘employeth no servant there’, as contained in another Book of Mormon scripture which says he waits for you ‘with open arms’ (Mormon 6:17). That’s why He’s there! He waits for you ‘with open arms’.

“That imagery is too powerful to brush aside…It is imagery that should work itself into the very center core of one’s mind – a rendezvous impending, a moment in time and space, the likes of which there is none other….”   (Maxwell, “But a Few Days”, 7)

Elder Orson F. Whitney experienced a taste of such a tender moment in his dream:

“I ran to meet Him, fell at his feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped, raised me up, and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real, I felt the very warmth of His body, as He held me in His arms” (Whitney, Through Memory’s Halls, 83)

I don’t know what an embrace meant to us and how it felt when we were spirits, before we were born. I don’t know what it was like but I do know that the Saviour made possible the embrace that I know now. I long to experience that with Him…..to feel of His love, but mostly to make Him feel mine.

Every Christmas, the mother in me

Longs to hold the baby You became.

To hold all that You were,

To smell the babyhood on You.

 

Just one hug, just one embrace,

And to kiss Your sweet little face.

 

Were You a baby like all the rest?

Did You cry out in the night

Longing to hear the beating

Of Your mother’s heart?

 

Did You remember who You were?

And did You know You would

One day make all things new?

Did You rejoice even then

In my salvation too?

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Baby Jesus by Jennifer Hickey)