The Christmas season, a celebration of the advent of Christ Jesus, has long been a busy time: meeting with friends, buying presents, parties in the workplace, cooking, coordinating. Sometimes, however, in the midst of so many activities, people end up wondering why they can’t feel the satisfying spirit of Christ that they long for. 

The message of the Christmas story goes far beyond festivities and cheer. Mary’s spiritual conception of Jesus enabled him to demonstrate his true spiritual selfhood as the Christ, the Son of God. He taught, and gave countless proofs of, what it means to be the child of God: to be free from sin, sickness, and even death. He lived in constant communion with his divine Father. Jesus loved God and all mankind, expressing this love through concrete actions: He healed countless people. 

Jesus demonstrated that we are all children of God and that, as the first chapter of Genesis explains, we are created in the image of God, Spirit—totally good, innocent, and spiritual. His life demonstrated this divine model of man.