2000 some odd years ago a tiny family traveled much the same corridor en route toward a great "getting together" of family and friends. a census urged the man and his wife toward the tiny town of bethlehem; a counting of men, women and children. to be sure there were scrooges in their midst . . . "bah humbugs" and the stress of the unplanned travel expenses, preparations gone bad and dad forgetting to make reservations at the hotel. if only they could arrive at their destination . . . the rest could be had. and nice, quiet sleep.
that's all i wanted tonight to be sure. and now at nearly 1am christmas morning i am typing instead of basking in dark stillness. but my mind is a rush of emotion and thought . . . and getting it out on "paper" seemed to fit the need.
grace has a nice way of forcing itself upon me at just the right moments. tonight it was a lesson learned regarding the incarnation of our Lord, accompanied by a song entitled "All is Well." over and over the song repeats, "all is well" and it hit me that my mind and heart are so often smitten by the dreariness of life . . . and that all is, indeed, "not well." as i listened to the song my mind and heart were opened by grace to one particular line of powerful poetry:
. . . tonight darkness fell into the dawn of love's light . . .
over and over again my mind tries to wrap itself around the magnitude of what happened that dark night in bethlehem. the dark night of sin and despair, the waiting in anticipation, the hopeful expectation of deliverance was ushered into the arms of a virgin girl in a quiet stable across from an inn . . . without fanfare and without a breath of resistance. the king was born and all was well (insert here thoughts regarding the creation of the universe and and the cumulative "it is good." do we see a pattern?). "the dawn of love's light." christmas is our beginning, it is our spiritual dawn. follow the star . . . and all is well. follow it from cradle to cross . . . and all is well. follow it through miracles and sermons, friendships and journey . . . and all along the way all is well. follow it from nazareth to capernaum, samaria to jerusalem and everywhere in between . . . and all is well. and follow it to the garden, and follow judas' footsteps and his lips on Jesus cheek . . . and all is still well. follow the fists that pounded his face, and trace each thorn as it pierced his skull . . . all is well. walk along with him along the "way of suffering," carry his cross with Simon the man from Cyrene and eye all along the way the hill called "the Skull" . . . and find that all is well. follow the nails, follow the spear, follow the words of the thieves and the soldiers, follow the words of your savior, follow his final breath as it falls from his cracked lips and falls at your feet . . . the light of love succumbing to darkness . . . and all is well.
what i've seen
from my viewpoint little is well with life a lot of the time . . . finances, relationships, bleak national times and an uncertain personal future, it doesn't always look good. and it is because i do not look through the eyes of light, especially love's light and in particular the way it dispels the darkest of nights. the grace to be where i am today and not where i should be is all of grace and too often i forget what was given that first christmas morning. Jesus was God's "widow's mite" . . . Jesus was God's most expensive and rarest gift . . . Jesus was the one selfless act that defined grace as it would come to be known in the life of the church of God . . . God made flesh and born to die, that for all of those who are his own, all will be well.
my love for my Savior and His grace is so full of holes it's a wonder i haven't sunk. but even in this, grace keeps it afloat. with each gift we receive and with each gift that we give it is my resolution to paint for my children the dawn of love's light. all of its bright colors and all of its majesty . . . painted on the canvas of simple grace.
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