Light and Life to All He Brings

Christmas Day has come and gone. This December, this Advent season brought many thoughts and experiences. None of which I stopped to share on here. However, I would like to share a few songs that sang in my heart throughout this time.

To me, Advent has always been about light and dark. Expectation and deliverance. Without Christmas, there would be no salvation. No good news. Without Christmas, there would be no Easter. Without Easter, there would be no reason to celebrate Christmas. But we do have both. This Christmas I feel a more somber kind of joy. A hope. A joy that has more longing and living. I have a hope, I have a joy, but there is so much darkness in this world that I feel like my joy must wait to see the light make everything right again. But in the middle of pain or pleasure, it was my prayer and a sincere desire to see peace brought to this world. The only way I know for that to happen is for Jesus to be present in all of us. To shine his light through us, his children, and to shine it on the darkness.

For even the darkness will not be dark to you (Jesus); the night will shine like the day (Psalm 139: 12). And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which we will do well to pay attention to as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts (2 Peter 1:19). And my favorite wrap up, from Revelation 22:16, "I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."

The first song, "Shine Into Our Night" from Sovereign Grace Music has been in my head and my heart, and on my lips literally every day. The words are,

We are not what we should be

We haven't sought what we should seek

We've seen your glory, Lord, but looked away

Our hearts are bent our eyes are dim,

Our finest works are stained with sin

And emptiness has shadowed all our ways

Jesus Christ, shine into our night

Drive our dark away

Until Your glory fills our eyes

Jesus Christ, shine into our night

Bind us to Your cross

Where we find life.

Still we often go astray,

We chase the world, forget your grace

But You have never failed to bring us back

Reveal the depths of what you've done

The death you died, the victory won

You made a way for us to know your love

The second song is Todd Agnew's arrangement of Mary's Song, The Magnificat. I'll have to expand on that later, as this has gotten long enough. I hope you'll savor the words of the song above.