Snow on Snow
While in Alberta recently, we visited a friends church in Edmonton on December 29th. There we sang a Christmas Carol that I didn't think I knew.
In The Bleak Mid-Winter by Christina Rossetti
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.
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,
Worshipped the beloved with a 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: give my heart.
I thought, "yes, very fitting on this snowy day to be singing about the bleak mid-winter". But the song didn't really speak to me on any deep level. This past Sunday, we sang the carol at our church in Winnipeg. Could it just be the weather that was bringing this song to the forefront of music directors' minds? Maybe.
But as I reread the lines and realized that I did know this song (I have a copy of the song on the Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong Sampler that I got from Canadian Tire back in 2008), I started to think more about the words. No, not the "snow on snow, snow on snow part" - even though that is our experience around here. It is the last two lines that I am pondering this Epiphany.
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
The Wise Men's part was to find the King and give the gifts they had brought. See Matthew 2:9-11 and Isaiah 60:1-7 (especially verse 6). Remembering the presents of the Wise Men this soon after Christmas is good for us. We just spent many weeks making sure we were ready for Christmas by finding just the right gift for every person on our list. Now we can sit back and relax, right? Get cozy and comfy through the rest of the bleak winter? Maybe not.
Epiphany comes and we are faced with the Magi as "they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts" (Matt. 2:11). Our giving doesn't end on Christmas Day and our giving doesn't end with the people on our list. Just as the Magi gave what they had for the new King, "what I can I give Him: give my heart." When we give Jesus our heart, it is not a one-time event. Even if we have a date when we "gave our heart to Jesus", the giving continues. If Jesus has our hearts, He has us. He has our lives and therefore our day to day living becomes an offering to Him. There is one word that keeps coming to mind when I try think of how to describe this life: devoted.
Snow, rain, or sun, my New Year's prayer for each one of us is that 2014 will be a year of devotion to the Lord as we continually give to Him what we can - ourselves.
In Christ,
Tracy
In The Bleak Mid-Winter by Christina Rossetti
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.
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,
Worshipped the beloved with a 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: give my heart.
I thought, "yes, very fitting on this snowy day to be singing about the bleak mid-winter". But the song didn't really speak to me on any deep level. This past Sunday, we sang the carol at our church in Winnipeg. Could it just be the weather that was bringing this song to the forefront of music directors' minds? Maybe.
But as I reread the lines and realized that I did know this song (I have a copy of the song on the Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong Sampler that I got from Canadian Tire back in 2008), I started to think more about the words. No, not the "snow on snow, snow on snow part" - even though that is our experience around here. It is the last two lines that I am pondering this Epiphany.
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
Epiphany comes and we are faced with the Magi as "they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts" (Matt. 2:11). Our giving doesn't end on Christmas Day and our giving doesn't end with the people on our list. Just as the Magi gave what they had for the new King, "what I can I give Him: give my heart." When we give Jesus our heart, it is not a one-time event. Even if we have a date when we "gave our heart to Jesus", the giving continues. If Jesus has our hearts, He has us. He has our lives and therefore our day to day living becomes an offering to Him. There is one word that keeps coming to mind when I try think of how to describe this life: devoted.
Snow, rain, or sun, my New Year's prayer for each one of us is that 2014 will be a year of devotion to the Lord as we continually give to Him what we can - ourselves.
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