Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a beautiful old song for this lovely season…
“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.”
Isn’t that a lovely tune? It’s disarming in its simplicity, isn’t it? Winter's metaphors often include the sense of stillness, its sense of silence and darkness, a season where everything dies a little. Longfellow once said that the falling snow is a "poem of the air," where the "troubled sky reveals the grief it feels." And another poet wrote, “The days are short, The sun a spark Hung thin between The dark and dark.” But this song, a poem by Christina Rossetti, lifts our spirits above the dark of winter to describe the light of heaven. The second verse goes:
“Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
“Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshiped the beloved with a mother’s kiss.
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him: I give my heart.”
Friend, as we tie up the Christmas season; as we take down the tinsel and tuck away the ornaments; as we put away the presents, let’s not put behind us the best gift of all. As the song goes: give Christ your heart; give Him your affections, your wants and wishes, your hopes and dreams for the New Year. Give Him the decisions you’ll make in 2014, the choices and the preferences you have. For if any wisdom dwells in us at all, the wise and wonderful thing to do, always do, is to give Him all of yourself. Give Him all of your heart. And, hey, you may want to give this song to your friends, so I invite you to share it today on Facebook; we also have the words—all the words—for you to download on my radio page at joniandfriends.org. So friend, if you feel like you are in a bleak midwinter, if the snow of grief has fallen on your heart, if your feelings are frozen, your soul feels stiff and hard, please give the Lord your heart.
From all of us at the ministry, have a blessed Christmas week. By the way, I would love to hear what you are praying about or a favorite Bible verse that you are memorizing. Tell me about it. Just go to my radio page today at joniandfriends.org.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376