THE birthday

April 6th

Modern scripture records that Jesus Christ was born on this day.

On a Friday, April 6th many years ago, we were talking about Easter week. In the discussion, I mentioned that Jesus was really born on April 6th, and not December 25th. Quick Elizabeth asked: "Then why don't we display a nativity on April 6th?" Good question I thought. With all the Christmas deco packed away, it would have been a real pain to get out a nativity for display. The next morning, there were lots of garage sales in the neighborhood. I thought what are my chances of finding a nativity. I ventured out, and at the very first garage sale, there sitting front and center, was a nativity. I made the purchase. The nativity was display that year in our home, and every year since, on April 6th. Thanks Elizabeth!

In 1999, President Gorden B. Hinckley said: "It is only two millennia since the Savior walked the earth. It is a wonderful acknowledgment of His place in history that the calendar now in use throughout most of the world places His birth as the meridian of time. All that went before is reckoned back from that date. All that has happened since is measured forward from that date. Every time anyone uses a date, he knowingly or unknowingly acknowledges the coming to earth of the Son of God. His birth, as it has been popularly determined, marks the center point of the ages, the meridian of time recognized throughout the earth. As we use these dates we pay no attention to it. But if we pause to think, we must recognize that He is the one sublime figure in all the history of the world on which our measurement of time is based."