Gift in the Bleakness

Christmas Eve 

Be still, then, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations;
I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:11

My morning devotions are accompanied by snow, and I imagine myself within the scene of In the Bleak Midwinter, once of my favorite Christmas hymns. Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow on snow.

As I make my way finally to the manger, I will be in the company of a band of children who will dress in the traditional costumes and tell the story to a churchfull of relatives and strangers. And later I will approach the manger again in candlelight accompanied by magnificent music. And in both circumstances, I will arrive emptyhanded.

What can I give Him, Poor as I am? What do I have to offer Love incarnate? What can the Holy One want of mine, when all that I have is tarnished? When I am marred by imperfection? Who am I to arrive at the birth of the Morning Star?

And who were the shepherds but tarnished, marred, imperfect human beings? Trusting, faithful, human beings who did not think twice about heading to the scene of the miraculous and holy. With the shepherds and the children and the faithful and the unconvinced, I am in good company. I will make it to the manger, and my hands won’t be empty. Because I will hold the one gift I have. Yet what I can, I give Him, Give my heart.