In 1972, my husband Glenn, daughter Veronica, and I moved from Reno to Tampa, Fla., to be closer to my elderly parents. We decided to return to Nevada in late 1975, but did not want to spoil their Christmas so delayed telling them. They never knew. Mother died in February 1976 of heart failure, and by September, Dad joined her in death.
These events altered our plans dramatically. We postponed our journey home to Nevada until 1978. What a different environment we found! Northern Nevada was in the midst of a building boom. Mega hotels/casinos were being built, but their employees had no place to live. Neither did we. We did not want to join many families camping along the Carson and Truckee rivers.
Fortunately, a Reno friend invited us to stay with her until other long-time friends rented us the Carson City home they had bought for their retirement. By Christmas 1978, we had a new abode. We were their tenants for 11 years.
Perhaps the combination of losing Mom and Dad within seven months of each other, the trauma experienced by my three brothers and I in planning the funerals and settling our parents' estates, and returning to Nevada to find "no room at the inn" made me view the biblical story of Christ's birth in a different way our first Christmas home in Carson City.
I felt inspired to compose this Christmas narrative titled "Imagine." Glenn and I sent this greeting to our family and friends in 1978 with the hope it would help us all move forward with our lives in a loving, positive manner regardless of the changes we might encounter along the way.
Maybe the contents of this 27-year-old Christmas greeting, which I humbly share with you and your readers, will help to keep our day-to-day problems in perspective and encourage us all to respect one another regardless of our differences. Just imagine!
Imagine
Without the submission of a young maiden and her betrothed to the will of God ...
Without the love and trust they mutually shared ...
Without their ability to communicate with God's angel messengers ...
Without the belief in the integrity of the couple by their families ...
Without the moral support of their families and friends ...
Without the couple's obedience to a law of their land to register as members of a certain household ...
Without their faith in God's promise to provide for their needs ...
Without the shepherds' willingness to accept the angels' message ...
Without the perseverance and hope of three men in following a unique star to its place of rest over a newborn's crib ...
Without the love, protection and devotion of this couple to each other and in overseeing their child's growth under God's direction ...
Without all of these, would there be a Christmas story or Christ's ministry on earth?
More importantly, in our cynical, doubting world, where would God find the faith, hope and love of a Mary, a Joseph, parents, an innkeeper, shepherds and wise men, ready to accept God's ability to speak directly or through His angels and stars to mankinda and willing to follow God's commands?
Relieved, what role would each of us be worthy to play?
Imagine!
-- Ellen Nelson is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retired from the Legislative Counsel Bureau.
