In the days leading up to Christmas, the radio station we listen to explained the source of many of today’s Christmas carols. It made for fascinating listening.
One of the carols mentioned was “Silent Night”, originally written in German as “Stille Nacht”. The man who wrote it had just witnessed the birth of a baby, and was out in the woods imagining the birth of Jesus. As he imagined, he thought of the first words of the carol. He ran home to write that carol, which we now know as “Silent Night.”
Here I was in my van, running around, like many of you, I guess, trying to get my last minute shopping done. But even if it were not the Christmas season, I tend to have a busy schedule, as do all of you. With kids in school, running a business from our home, and being involved in church, we have little time for long rambles through the woods (or in our case, the sub-division).
Well, then the thought crossed my mind: Does God speak even in the midst of this? To hear the radio station tell it, all of these great writers had oodles of time, which they spent in walks through the woods, and at their desks, and pianos writing and composing. In comparison to the peaceful moments, which led up to “Silent Night” story, my moments are generally insane!
Now, don’t get me wrong. I make sure the Lord is the center of my day. I, and my family have learnt from bitter experience what life in this house is like, if I don’t! But, I seldom have the time to contemplate like it seems these great composers did.
Then God reminded me it is often in the midst of the mundane, and in the midst of the busyness of the day, that He comes alongside me and gives me a “jewel”. One day I was complaining about the laundry, and He said, “Think of it like my love, never-ending!”
So in the midst of trying to get the kids ready for school, the phone ringing, the cats meowing insistently for breakfast, and my teen wondering his backpack is, I know the Lord is ministering to me.
I might never — no, let me rephrase that — I WILL never compose a hymn or a carol; but God speaks to me nonetheless. And I know, as you go through your day He speaks to you too.
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