A Singular Anticipation of Christmas–Day 5

It's the Chorus that rings in human hearts – New Song

Our family had quite an honor yesterday.  We were special guests at the wedding of our two dear friends, Chuck and Beth.  It was a small ceremony of friends and family that took place under a tree outside the historical Hanover Courthouse on a beautiful 75 degree day. Beth had been hoping for much cooler temperatures and flying snowflakes, but in their absence she quickly adjusted her plan to include flying bubbles. Instead of Elliott and Ian serving as flower boys, they became bubble boys.  Picture two young boys running circles around the wedding party, bubbles drifting from their wands, while the lovely couple is saying “I do”.

I found it very appropriate these wonderful people were married during the Christmas season.  They are Christmas.  Sometimes we can confuse the Christmas celebration and Christmas itself.  The birth of Christ was intended to change our hearts forever, create a chorus in human hearts that would sing out each and every day, not just during the month of December or on Christmas day. 

I was thinking this morning, during the months leading up to our boys’ birthdays, in anticipation of the celebrations that mark the days the came to us, we don’t treat them differently than we do the rest of the year .  We do our best to shower them with love and patience year round.  I’m certainly not saying each day is equally successful in that regard, but our hearts and motives are unchanging.  But that’s different.  How is possible to treat Christ any way at all?  Simple.  In Matthew 25:40 Christ says: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  

I’m afraid I’m guilty of treating Christ differently in December than I do the rest of the year.  I will donate to more charities this month.  Neighbors I greet too infrequently during the year will hear me yelling Merry Christmas from across the street.  When I am cut off in traffic this month the odds diminish greatly that I will accelerate the car and pull up beside that person to express something far more pointed than seasons greetings.  I don’t believe I’m alone in any of this.  To my ears, the chorus of human hearts rings our far more beautiful during the Christmas season than it does any other time of the year.

Our friends Chuck and Beth, though, I hear a beautiful song from their hearts every day.  The love that flows from them for all people, and in Beth’s case, all plants and animals and even some inanimate objects, is unwavering.  So as I pray that God blesses their marriage, I pray also that I will continue to be inspired by them, and that I will become a part of the chorus that sings a beautiful song all the year through.