Imperfect people are all god has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to him, but he deals with it. So should we.

Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods who not only don't rock the boat but don't even row it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds.

I suppose no one is as handsome or as beautiful as he or she wishes, or as brilliant in school or as witty in speech or as wealthy as we would like, but in a world of varied talents and fortunes that we can't always command, I think that makes even more attractive the qualities we can command--such qualities as thoughtfulness, patience, a kind word, and true delight in the accomplishment of another. These cost us nothing, and they can mean everything to the one who receives them.

Patiently enduring some things is part of our mortal education.

Perhaps some have created their own difficulties but don't the rest of us do exactly the same things? Are we not all beggars?

If you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.

Only when we see that sacred, unadorned child of our devotion-the Babe of Bethlehem-will we know why the giving of gifts is so appropriate