During the First Presidency’s 2025 Christmas Devotional, President Henry B. Eyring shared a sweet tradition he had with his two daughters when they were young.
Often, when the girls came home from school, President Eyring would be ready in the kitchen with the ingredients to make whole-wheat bread.
“The girls helped mix and knead the dough. Then, as they waited for the dough to rise and bake, I would carve letters into a small, wooden bread board, cut out in advance, for the purpose of making a gift,” President Eyring says.
In each board, President Eyring would carve J’aime, J’espère, which means “I love, I hope” in French.
When the bread was ready, they would deliver the loaf and carved board to a friend or neighbor who was “facing a trial of health or sorrow.”
“As I’ve reflected on this tradition, my mind has turned to the wooden bread board with the engraved words ‘I love and I hope.’ As a living witness of Jesus Christ, I promise you that because of Him we can always feel of his love and find hope in Him no matter life’s circumstances, good or bad,” President Eyring said.
He later added, “As we are kind and serve each other as the Savior would, even in the smallest of ways, we can become a channel of God’s grace to help those in our circle of influence feel the Savior’s love and hope—J’aime, j’espère.”
President Eyring’s Connection to France
President Eyring’s late wife, Kathleen Eyring, loved France. She studied at Sorbonne University in the heart of Paris before meeting President Eyring. Church News reports she “developed a love for all things French: French music, French food, French art, and the French language—which she worked hard to learn.”
After the Eyrings married, they returned to Paris and together walked the streets where Sister Eyring had lived.
Many years later, President Eyring was assigned to dedicate the Paris France Temple. Sister Eyring’s poor health prevented her from going with him. But while in Paris, President Eyring imagined the time they’d spent together. It is a “very tender thing for me,” he said.
President Eyring’s Wood Carvings
Carving wood has long been a hobby of President Eyring’s.
“I learned to carve only with the help of a kind and gifted mentor, then-Elder Boyd K. Packer. What little skill I achieved can be attributed to his great gift as a carver and his patience as a teacher,” he said in his general conference talk “Help Them Aim High.”
President Eyring’s artwork (including 200 paintings and more than a dozen wood carvings) was on exhibit at Brigham Young University–Idaho in 2017. His art was also later displayed at the Church History Museum on Temple Square.
“My motivation in all of my varied creative work seems to have been a feeling of love,” President Eyring wrote. “I felt the love of a Creator who expects His children to become like Him—to create and to build. In addition, I have always had a feeling of love for my family, friends, and others who might gain some satisfaction and joy from my efforts.
See two of President Eyring’s carvings in the post and picture below.
“It hung on the wall of our home while our four sons grew up and left to serve—two in Japan, one in Chile, and one in the Netherlands. They looked at it when they came home to visit us, as they each served as a bishop. I read it as I left to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the children of Heavenly Father across the world.” Read more at Church News.
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