Rest

December 20, 2019

Go

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to Your word.” Luke 1:38

We are all pilgrims on a journey to You, Lord.
May we contemplate Your time on earth,
and, with Your help, follow in Your footsteps

December 21, 2019

Rest

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,

for His steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 106:1

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what His eyes see,

or decide disputes by what His ears hear,

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. Isaiah 11:2-4

“Come to me all you who are burdened
and I will give you rest”
Here I am, Lord.
I come to seek Your presence.
I long for Your healing power.

I got into a little Facebook spat with Colin Winslow yesterday over what was the best Christmas carol. He declared “O Holy Night” to be the bestest, but I said that “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Eve” was the one that pierces my soul every time. Both of us agreed that we needed to hear Cameron sing them back-to-back to reach an agreement.

“I Heard the Bells” is based on a poem by grief-filled Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written after the accidental death of his beloved wife and after his son ran off to fight in the Union army without his permission.

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

And the last few days I have been suffering from the most painfully gripping stomach flu ever, and have spent a lot of time writhing on my living room couch in front of my cute little fireplace and Christmas tree. Me being me, I have been distracting myself by rererereading A Tale of Two Cities.  Um, one thing is clear from old Dickens, besides his amazing character development skills, is that since the beginning of time, there is no peace on earth, this injustice and war and pain permeate the experience of life.

And yet.

In the quiet stillness, there is comfort and rest.

Come unto Me.

He is good.

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

His steadfast love endures forever.

And in this promise we will rest.

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor does He sleep (peace on earth, peace on earth)
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men