On the Third Day
I believe I've mentioned before that Christ was probably not born in the bleak midwinter as the songs tell us, however, I think Winter a fitting metaphor to blend with Christ's birth. The air is cold, the ground is hard; all the world is a slate gray and a drab green, until the snow falls. One, dazzling white flake at a time, the bleak grayness is frosted over. Each misshapen branch is clothed in raiment which makes it beautiful. So too when Christ, falls upon our hearts. All our ugly, bare, misshapen sin, is covered over with His dazzling beauty. So it was also on that normal night, winter or no, in far away Bethlehem. All the world was sighing over the bleakness in which sin held it in an ever downward spiraling orbit, but when the virgin gave birth to a child and laid Him in a feeding trough, it was then that all the bleakness vanished, in the dazzling brightness of the hope of the world. "The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and the people that dwelt in the shadow of death, upon them a light shone."
This season, as you are tempted to look out the window and sigh because of the gloominess of it all, remember that the snow has fallen in your heart and taken away the much more frigid bareness within you. Then go make yourself a cup of hot cocoa!
For those of you who live in the upper united states and have snow, thank God for its beauty and for His even more beautiful gift to mankind as you tromp through the glorious powdery whiteness.
Friends, all of us have hearts of bleak winter with no snow and no Christmas. Christ sends his righteousness which covers us like a comforting fleece blanket, and one day spring will come when He resurrects us to new life.
Enjoy this lovely Christmas carol by Christina Rossetti.
Christmas is almost here. I'd love to hear your thoughts about what you look forward to most about this beautiful holiday.
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