It just won't quit snowing! I was happy to have a white Christmas, but I wouldn't mind a couple of days without shoveling. I am spending much of my break catching up on things around home. The Christmas decorations are coming down, books are getting read, and of course plans are being made for church music in the coming weeks and months.As I was digging through a pile of music, I came across the November issue of "The American Organist." (See what I mean about catching up?) One article was about a new retreat for organists that opened last year. Sometimes we all need a break and a bit of silence to find the core of our passion again, the driving purpose for what we do.
The article included the text of a hymn that spoke to me at this time of the year as I work among stacks of books and tubs of Christmas decorations:
Come and find the quiet center,
In the crowded life we lead.
Find the room for hope to enter,
Find the frame where we are freed:
Clear the chaos and the clutter,
Clear our eyes that we may see
All the things that really matter,
Be at peace and simply be.
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ReplyDeleteClear the chaos and the clutter,
ReplyDeleteClear our eyes that we may see
All the things that really matter,
Be at peace and simply be.
Speaking of clearing the chaos and the clutter…
Today I began taking down the first of three Christmas trees in our home, the biggest one in the family room, decorated mostly with sparkly “crystal” ornaments (glass or plastic, really). I never did get the star on top to work this year, no matter what I did to try and fix it. So I finally gave up and left it on the tree as it was, unlit.
I had just about finished removing and packing the ornaments, with not much left but a few strands of beads hanging haphazardly on the tree, when suddenly, on the eve of the Epiphany, the star lit up! Mind you, the other lights on the tree were not even plugged in! My undecorating frenzy came to complete stop. I sat peacefully and just admired the star, reflecting on the joy of this past Christmas and the things that really mattered.
Pastor Ferro explained in Pastor’s Page in the January Bethany News that “Epiphany” actually means to “shine out” or “appear”. Of course, the sudden lighting of the star can be explained by examining a few extension cords under the tree, but I think I’d like to think of this as a reminder, as Pastor wrote, to let my light continue to shine; not the star on the tree, but the light of Jesus in my heart and life, so that it may be seen by others.
I wondered why you sent me a picture of a lit star on a Christmas tree. Now I know. Thanks.
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