A Christmas Love song
I listen to Into the Silent Night by For King & Country. The song isn’t new, but although I may have heard it, I haven’t paid attention to the lyrics. Now I listen, and the words wash over me. I realize it is a love song. Since I have no significant other, I usually skip past songs that sharpen the sting of loneliness I sometimes feel.
But as I gaze out my kitchen windows while the morning sun begins to inch above the trees on the eastern horizon, I am touched by both the melody and the words. Looking at my leaf-strewn yard and tree-covered landscape, I hear the lyrics, ‘After rain seasons change, till Christmas Day comes back again…’ As I listen, the morning light is filtered through the remaining leaves that slowly drift down from the big oaks in my yard, and my mind drifts back twenty-three years.
Morning Memories
I am reminded of the barren yard where my children and I planted the first trees – chinkapin oaks- the summer after my husband died. The eight-foot trees were the biggest we could afford or manage. We also planted a smaller red ash. A year later, I put a post beside the red ash and mounted a bird feeder. The post was taller than the tree. The large windows in my kitchen/dining area look out on these trees, and many mornings, I would stand at the window, watch the birds, and lift a prayer of praise for a new day.
As the seasons passed, the landscape changed. More trees, flowers, and shrubs were added. A road was added and later graveled. The land was fenced. Animals came and went. Children became teenagers, then adults, and eventually left to lead their own lives, and yet, ‘through it all, love remains.’
With You by my Side
I think of how many times I have looked out these windows or stood in my yard and looked to the horizon; how many times I have stood outside in the dark and gazed at the brilliance of the heavens, and in all of those moments, I have not been alone. These have been my times and places of prayer, and God has been present there with me.
I listen to the chorus, “Into the silent night, with you by my side….” In all these twenty-plus years, I have walked out into the dark of morning almost daily. Every morning, I have dreaded stepping out into the dark. Even in the dusky grey cool of a summer morning, I have been hesitant to leave my coffee and the comfort of the kitchen. But there, in the silent night under a brilliant canopy of stars or in the glow of moonlight, I have been repeatedly awestruck by the glorious beauty and magnitude of the heavens.
In seasons of grief, I have felt the comfort of my Heavenly Father wrap around me in those moments. In contented seasons, I have walked quietly in the silent presence of a comfortable friend. Occasionally, I have been struck by awe and delight in the presence of love, and with arms outstretched, I have danced in the moonlight.
Immanuel - God With Us
As I linger in the morning light that streams through my kitchen windows on this December morning and let the words of this song fill me, I think of the words of Isaiah, “…. She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14.
God is WITH us!
He is with me, and He is with you too! He is Immanuel, and he has come to comfort the brokenhearted, set captives free, and be our friend. He is our Father and our husband. Our God is with us! Isaiah 6:1, Luke 4:18-19, John 15:15, Isaiah 54:5
Praise for Blessings Past and Present
This Christmas, if you find yourself looking back and longing for past Christmas seasons, I pray you can pause a moment and see God’s presence there in those former days, in the people, and in the places you miss. I pray that, like me, you can offer a prayer of praise for those days that are now gone but live forever in our memory.
If you find yourself lonely and longing for love and companionship this holiday season, I pray you can feel the presence of a Father, friend, and lover wrap around you in those quiet moments of solitude and that here, too, we can offer a prayer of praise because His presence can be felt so keenly in the absence of others.
And if this is a season in which family and friends surround you and you feel this is the best Christmas you have ever experienced, I pray that you also feel God’s presence, see Him reflected in the faces of your loved ones, and remember that Immanuel has come—God with us.
Through it all, Love Remains
“Sun and rain, life and change, but through it all, love remains.” My property and I matured and aged as the years passed, but like a faithful friend and a devoted lover, His love continues to enfold me in every season. And at that moment, I feel awed and enwrapped by His presence. So, as I listen once more in the solitude of my kitchen, I lift my hands, my feet move, and I dance to a love song with the one who loves me.
What a wonderful reflection, Sheila!