A Page From My Christmas Archives: A Thrill of Hope

"Music is the divine way to tell

beautiful, poetic things to the heart."

PABLO CASALS, Spanish Cellist/Composer

There seems to be such heaviness in the world some days. News that can fill our hearts with trembling. In my own little world, things are good, we're content, yet still the larger picture of sorrow and hardship often drifts into my own space - I feel the pain of the world in my heart. As I thought about what I could share this week here on my blog, I found something I wrote four Decembers ago, back in 2020. Four years later I find the words I wrote then still speak hope and peace to my own heart. It repeats the sounding joy.

And so I offer it here today... with the fervent wish that you, too, will find your own thrill of hope in the midst of whatever you, or someone you care about, might be facing these days.

A Thrill of Hope
- written December 14, 2020

The music of Christmas carols and holiday songs have always been a favourite part of Christmas for me. There are so many favourites I could talk about—I have probably loved them all in turn. But let me take you back in time and share just one carol that touched me as a girl. It still sings in my heart to this day.

I wasn't very old, maybe seven or eight, when I first heard the lovely carol O Holy Night and loved it immediately. I remember feeling something sweet swell up on the inside of me in response to the beautiful voice soaring on the top of that enthralling melody...."A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices...". It wasn't the words that stopped me in my tracks as a youngster; it was the music that made a place for those words to live in my memory forever. As I grew up the words took on meaning, especially when hard things made my heart weary.

There are seasons when we almost fall beneath the weight of the world's woes, the sorrows and suffering of people near and far, our own personal burdens. This has not been an easy year for anyone. There comes a fresh reminder every time I hear the song—perhaps a reminder for each of us—that God is with us in the midst of these hard times and places. I never have to carry these burdens by myself. If I ask, Jesus, where are you in all this, there comes the thrill of hope as He gently reminds me a name that was given to him according to ancient texts: Emmanuel, which means 'God with us'.

Not that many days from now we have a party to celebrate, albeit in smaller than usual fashion this year. In the fairy tale, Santa Claus comes to visit once a year and returns to the North Pole, but in another story Emmanuel once came and He stayed. God With Us. He lived physically on this planet for a while—now He dwells in the hearts of humans. In those words I feel a thrill of hope. I hope you will feel it too.

❦

Wishing you joy-filled anticipation as we count down these

last few days. A Merry Christmas to you!

Heart hugs,

Brenda

PS. On Tuesday, Dec 24th, I will be guest posting on

the InScribe blog - a short seasonal piece titled A Xylophonic Vibration.

If you are interested, I'd love for you to stop by then.

Photo credits:

(Top)Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

My Winter Blogging Schedule:

I post on Fridays