Tonight I had the pleasure of putting my wise little Professor to bed. The routine starts with getting pajamas on, of course, and then family prayer (minus my little Colonel who is already in bed by this point). Next is scripture book. Each night Howard or I read a page from Book of Mormon Stories (or Bible stories) to him before reading a few library books about trains or trucks or puppy dogs tails.
So after prayers tonight, in which the Professor kindly invited Heavenly Father to play with his geo-trax train set with him, I opened the scripture book at the bookmark and found that tonight's story was "Jesus Christ Blesses the Children," a story simplified from the account of the events found in 3 Nephi chapter 17 in the Book of Mormon.
In the story, Jesus prays for the Nephites, and his prayer cannot be written. It fills the people with great joy, though, and Jesus shares in that feeling. The story says, "[Jesus] felt so much love and happiness that he wept."
As I read this out loud to my son, it came to me that Jesus must have welcomed these feelings of love and joy just as much as the people he was blessing. It wasn't just for them, this spiritual bonding. It was for him, too. The work and trauma and pain of the Atonement and Crucifixion were just a few short days ago, and while his Resurrection and Ascension to the Father in the intervening days undoubtedly healed him and fulfilled him, I think the memories of those difficult moments were still probably fresh in his mind.
I know, it's all supposition.
But when I have just been through something difficult, after I've felt alone and down, after I've suffered with whatever kind of pain, after that, when I get to feel true joy again, when I get to connect with people who really love me, when I get to feel the Holy Ghost strongly, I weep. I can't help it. I weep with relief that the pain is over and with joy because I know that if I'm now feeling this way again, I am loved. That Heavenly Father loves me. So perhaps that's part of what Christ was feeling.
It was a moment of insight that brought me comfort because I felt, after that 60-second scripture session with my son, that I knew and understood the Savior just a little bit better. And that's something I have prayed for. And it was a moment I will remember because it was one of those rare times that I felt I could relate to the greatest man who ever lived on this earth.
