I love Christmas carols. And I don’t mean Jingle Bells or Frosty the Snowman.
I love the old ones. Those familiar melodies that the whole world hums this time of year. There’s a few key phrases, like “joy to the world” and “peace on earth and mercy mild” that most people could quote, but I find the greatest richness in the obscure verses no one sings.
There’s a line from” It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” that stopped me in my tracks this week.
And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
That doesn’t exactly sound like a Christmas carol, does it? No gloria, no angels, no joy. Just a bleak, realistic description of how wearisome life on this planet can be. The song declares that even at Christmas, maybe especially at Christmas, daily life can be painful, exhausting, discouraging.
If that’s how you feel this Christmas, I want to encourage you. God sees you. Sees your struggle, hears your cries. God watches how, through the power of the Holy Spirit within you, you trudge on.
You trudge on through the:
- Grief
- Disappointment
- Fear
- Sickness
- Betrayal
- Chaos
- Divorce
- Job loss
- Loneliness
- Chronic pain
- Trauma
- Shame
You trudge on and that takes courage. So bravo. God sees and cheers your endurance and perseverance. This world is full of trouble, but take heart, Jesus overcame the world. The above carol goes on to remind us that Jesus is coming back again to make all things right:
For lo! the days are hast’ning on,
By prophet seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold
When Christ shall come and all shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And saints shall meet Him in the air,
And with the angels sing.
May the beautiful truths of the old, old songs bring you new hope and peace this Christmas.