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Friday's Faith
Falling, Falling, Falling Lower after Grief...
Does God Understand Tears at Christmas?
Falling, falling, falling, lower after Grief,
No matter what I do, can't seem to find relief...
Winter is here, icy coating is on the earth ~
Perhaps ice froze me in time, which would explain th' dearth
Of happy feelings for the holidays each year
Since the day I lost my little one, my precious child...
Sweet Holy Infant so tender and mild,
On Your eighth day, Your own mother was told,
by prophet Simeon, (while looking on was Anna, so very old):
"...A sword will pierce your own soul too."
Tell me, how did Your own mother bear up under news
her own Child was going to die too?
And how did she feel when the angel warned in a dream
King Herod was searching for her Baby Boy, to kill... in his wicked scheme,
thus sending You and your family to another country to avoid death
as, against babes in that town, and through all the vicinity aroun'
Evil blew his icy breath
in terror that Another was born who should rightfully wear his crown.
O does the world recognize how much Satan did abound
Even and especially on "holidays" such as the one when You came down?
Killing all the tiny babes born Your birthday, then or aroun'...
The land then filled with grieving mothers like me
Filled with unremitting pain amid their horror and grief...
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they were no more."
So Christmas Day is a day to celebrate Your Life,
but also a day to grieve Satan's great strife
That strikes and kills others who also are God's helpless child,
being raised by other mothers as precious and loving as Mary mild.
God, You who designed us to laugh in hilarious delight,
Also designed us to recoil and cry when faced with heinous fright.
So You do not begrudge the tears that fall on Christmas Day
Knowing our great love for our child who's been robbed from us today,
Even as we celebrate the birth of Your dear Child,
Thanking You that because He lived and also was willing to die,
We know that You now hold beside,
both Your Child, our King, along with our living precious child!
As much as Mary was tender,
I'm sure her heart did render
many a tear,
no matter the season of the year,
So too Lord,
Accept our tears
As You lovingly draw near,
Your presence and comfort, amidst Satan's sword
That sought to slice sacred umbilical cord,
For Your Own great love bestowed in our heart
The love we have for our tender child that for now did depart,
but stands by Your side restored to You by Your willing sacrifice
Of allowing Your Only Son to take the blade of our child's knife
That spared their tender soul, assuring them their eternal life.
Thank You for understanding our pain
As You remind us You too longed to draw Your children under Your wing
Under which You would comfort, and sweet lullabies sing,
but You too were left with only tears and outcries
Until that Final Day we'll all be rejoined again in Your sweet Heav'nly skies.
*****
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me. so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they were no more."
~Matthew 2:1-18 NIV
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took hi to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother:
"This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God, and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
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