comfort and joy

(I wrote this post nine months ago, as a Note on my Facebook Profile, but I've been thinking about it lately -- especially last night when for some reason it felt like Christmas and I decided to listen to my MercyMe Christmas album.  And obviously it's been on the mind of some of my friends because when I signed into Facebook this morning I had a notification that two of them had commented on the Note yesterday.  I don't usually look for signs as to what I should do, but that's a pretty large flashing one, don't you think?)


Up until two years ago I had a hard and fast rule about when I would start to listen to Christmas music – the day after Thanksgiving.  Never earlier.  I don’t remember the reason for this rule.  Maybe it comes from working retail and having to listen to incessant and insipid renditions of Christmas carols starting in what felt like June.  Or maybe it comes from being in the school choir and needing to start learning music in September.  Or maybe I’m just contrary.  (I know which reason my family will pick.)  But all that changed on October 17, 2008.  I know this because that’s the creation date for my Pandora Christmas Radio station.  Whether or not I actually listened to Christmas music before my self-imposed date, who knows?  But I have to think I listened to some.  Otherwise why did I create it so early?

Last year, though, last year I know I started early.  Early October, to be more precise.  I’d been thinking about what I was going to put on my Christmas mixed CD and decided, why wait?  So I ordered MercyMe’s Christmas album used from Amazon on September 30, and when it showed up in the mail the next week, I started listening to it.  In October.

This year, I started today.  Sunday, October 3, 2010.  I was in the mood and wanted to listen to MercyMe’s album, so I did.  Twice.  (Did I happen to mention I was contrary?)  I hadn’t forgotten how much I love their version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, but it hadn’t been in the forefront of my mind since last year.  But listening to it today, I was struck by the chorus: “O, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy; O, tidings of comfort and joy”.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I sure could use “tidings of comfort and joy”.  It’s been a hard few months for my family.  Heck, it’s been a hard year: both my Grandmothers had surgery, as well as one of my Grandfathers and one of my sisters; the child we took in last year turned out to be so damaged we couldn’t fix him (a bitter pill to swallow, especially, for my parents); and, as always, the myriad little things that seem to drag you down until you’re not sure you can get back up again.

Then yesterday, yesterday we went to a memorial – a “Celebration of Life” – for a family friend who died too soon.  As at all memorials, there was some laughter, there were some tears, and the knowledge that there are two young men out there who had to grow up faster than they should have.  But thinking about the number of people who were there, all the people who were touched by this man and his life, I have to think it brought some comfort, if not joy, to his family.  To know how much he, and they, are loved.

Because we forget that, don’t we?  We forget there are people out there who love us.  Because life gets in the way, and the peace and certainty of love gets torn from us.  That’s one of the reasons I love Christmas so much – the peace and certainty get restored.  Yes, Christmas has become a very secular celebration with the moron brigade out in full force at the mall.  But for those who believe the promise of John 3:16, Christmas is a new beginning.  “A thrill of hope; the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn”.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem which has since been adapted into the carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.  I probably didn’t need to write the previous six paragraphs; the last two verses say what I mean, better than I ever could:

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on Earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor does He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on Earth, good will to men."

So I know this is a bit early, but my hope, my wish, my prayer for you is this: May the hope of Christmas be your comfort and joy throughout the year, and never forget you are loved.

inspiration

In a previous post I mentioned how sometimes the words just flow, but I thought I'd expand on that a bit more. The words usually only "flow" when I've been inspired (or when my muse decides to drop by for a bit). Luckily for you, this happened recently. :-)

I was listening to one of my favorite songs, "Show Me The River", by eastmountainsouth, and one of the lines just hit me. It's not like I'd never heard that line before. I've listened to the song multiple, MULTIPLE times. But for some reason it jumped out at me:

Got love on my mind, but death on these hands

(It wasn't really italicized in my mind. It just echoed.)

So I pulled out a piece of paper and started writing. What came out is the following poem (slightly edited and expanded upon, and formatted for your reading pleasure, although I haven't figured out a title yet).



They marched us long and hard,
for God and Country and Freedom.
But the heat of righteous conviction is hard to hold onto
when winter sets in and the men seem to drop like flies.
Every hole in my boots,
every child marching next to me,
every friend made and lost only serve to drag me down.
The more I fight the less I understand what we’re fighting for.
My heart was left behind with you
– in its place lead enough for a cannon ball.
I can no longer see the green fields or blue eyes I yearn for;
their hate has stained my hands red, my soul black.

If I make it home, I will plant my feet with the corn
and wait for the rain to wash me clean.