A Christmas Ode to Me and You

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It's hard to pick out the "highlights" of this year, so I thought I'd write an ode to the year. It's all a bit of a blur, but here we all are. Ben and I, Amos (who just turned 5) and Nathanael (who just turned 3). Lindsay, our housemate (who just turned...j/k). At times we make the best of it, other times we don't. And that's ok.


For the beauty of the earth,

how she groans as if in birth.

For the beauty of the skies,

sparrows meet our eyes.

For the love

which from our birth,

we are shaken into this groaning earth.

For love

over and around us lies

over and around us lies.

Our train of life

comes to an abrupt halt,

redirect.

Where?

How?

Now?


Lord of all to thee we raise

this our hymn of joyful praise.


Where is this "joy" you speak of?

Look for the pain, and there you'll find it.

How time has alluded us, tricked us.

For the beauty of the hour,

of the day and of the night.

Time deepens in this moment,

in the great generosity of the flower,

and the hope to reunite.


Lord of all to thee we raise

this our hymn of joyful praise.


For the joy of human love

brother, sister, parent, child.

Friends on earth, and friends above.

Oh how we long for Home,

how we are homesick. 

Longing in our heart, longing for the crooked to be made straight.


Lord of all to thee we raise

this our hymn of painful praise.


We resolve to give in, to let go

again and again.

Unclenching, open handed

to the narrow way of peace.

Lamp at our feet,

Jesus please shed some light.

In You we find our understanding.


Lord absolve our anger.

Resolve the conflict, the chaos.

May we lean on you in our limping. 

Comfort the lonely,

for you know.

Comfort the ones at the end of their rope,

for you were.

Comfort us,

all bleeding the same from the beginning of time.


Lord of all to thee we raise

this our hymn of aching praise.


So we stumble out of this year

into more grace,

more pain,

more joy.

Resting in You.

In You, all things shall be well.

You hold our beautiful mess together.


Grant us grace. Grant us grace for each other. For you are with us.


God has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile." - Dorothy Day

It was all worthwhile.

Merry Christmas.



 

Comments

  1. Jesse Califf12/21/20, 6:22 AM

    This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12/21/20, 8:19 AM

    Such wonderful & inspiring words with emphasis on positive action. Thank you Nell. 😀 We are indeed stumbling out of a dark nightmare, where storms of hatred, wars of mistrust & the sickness of amorality swirled around us like locusts. So now when we dare to dream of peace & happiness, it is Jesus that we seek; He is waiting for us when nothing else we find satisfies us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janell Downing1/8/21, 3:29 PM

      Yes! And as always, thank you for your vulnerability and encouragement.

      Delete

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