I woke up this morning in a rather sad mood. My Mr. left for Seattle very early today...6am to be exact. He'll be gone until Thursday attending the Resurgence Conference at Mars Hill Church with 5 other men from our church. It is truly a God thing that he is able to go and take this time to be with Godly men. I'm so excited to hear from him about what he has learned and how God is building the Acts 29 network churches.
Later this morning as I prepared for my day I opened the blinds in our bedroom to see what it was like outside. What I saw did not surprise me, but it did deepen my depression. I immediately starting to think of the first lines of "In The Bleak Midwinter"...you know, the poem by Christine Rossetti. As I started to have these lines run through my head I quickly thought, "I wonder if Rossetti had ever visited Kentucky in the Midwinter?" I tell ya....if not, she sure hit the nail on the head about our weather here. It's so depressing!! The funny thing is I did some research on the poem tonight and realized that God was talking to me the whole time!!! Duh...you would think I would know that by now. :-) You all probably know the poem and how it was set to music in the early 1900's. It's a poem about the night Jesus, my Lord and Savior, was born. I realized that on a night that probably was bleak bust still normal for most people God had sent his son into our world to save us. A glorious, beautiful, but heart-wrenching thing took place and all the while it was cold, dark, and, yes, BLEAK outside that stable. Who am I to complain about a few months of depressing weather in a part of the country that for most of the year is absolutely gorgeous!
I guess my point is I was wallowing in my self-pity and thinking about how depressed I was. I couldn't see past the gloomy weather, the work I needed to do around the house, the fact that I was going to be a single parent for 5 days, and the very real hurt in my heart because my husband wasn't home with me. Don't worry...God set me straight. :-) Joseph and I spent time with my best friend and her kids, did some shopping at a fabulously cheap store, and had a great lunch at McDonald's. We talked about the fact that our husbands are gone for 5 days. We bought chocolate to make ourselves feel better. We made one another feel better. It was a great afternoon.
For those of you who don't know the above referenced poem here it is (taken from www.wikipedia.org):
"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a Christmas carol.
Although written by Christina Rossetti before 1872, it was published posthumously in Rossetti's Poetic Works in 1904 and appeared in The English Hymnal in 1906.
According to the website CyberHymnal, Rossetti wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem[1].
In verse one, Rossetti describes the physical characteristics of the Incarnation.
- In the bleak midwinter
- Frosty wind made moan,
- Earth stood hard as iron,
- Water like a stone;
- Snow had fallen,
- Snow on snow,
- Snow on snow,
- In the bleak midwinter,
- Long ago.
In verse two, Rossetti contrasts Christ's first and second coming.
- Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
- Nor earth sustain;
- Heaven and earth shall flee away
- When he comes to reign;
- In the bleak midwinter
- A stable place sufficed
- The Lord God incarnate,
- Jesus Christ.
The third verse dwells on Christ's birth and describes the simple surroundings, in a humble stable and watched by beasts of burden.
- Enough for him, whom Cherubim
- Worship night and day
- A breast full of milk
- And a manger full of hay.
- Enough for him, whom angels
- Fall down before,
- The ox and ass and camel
- which adore.
Rossetti achieves another contrast in the fourth verse, this time between the incorporeal angels attendant at Christ's birth with Mary's ability to render Jesus physical affection. This verse is omitted in the Harold Darke setting.
- Angels and archangels
- May have gathered there,
- Cherubim and seraphim
- Thronged the air;
- But his mother only,
- In her maiden bliss,
- Worshipped the Beloved
- With a kiss.
The final verse may be the most well known and loved.
- What can I give him,
- Poor as I am?
- If I were a shepherd
- I would bring a lamb,
- If I were a wise man
- I would do my part,
- Yet what I can I give Him —
- Give my heart.
