Well I have another great new Christmas song to share with you this week. Wanna know something? I don’t know it. I’ve searched the internet high and low for the lyrics and they’re either not there or I am an inept searcher. (Choice #2 probably wins there…I have the same problem using the stupid “helpful online handbook” at work.) Anyway, so this song is one I’ve only heard one time, and that was this morning at church. It was part of our Christmas cantata. And given that I was not in the cantata, I don’t even know the words. I had to call four people before I finally found someone still in possession of a book containing the words!!!
But first, let me fill you in on why it made my list of great songs for the Christmas season. You know…given that I don’t actually know the song.
Let me back up to this morning while I was getting ready for church. My Dad has a radio program – just in case you didn’t know that. One program airs at an hour far before my day of rest begins. So I listen to the second one while I get ready. I try never to miss it because as sure as I do…that will be the Sunday he talks about me. Or worse (given that it’s the Christmas season) the Sunday he plays that recording of me reciting Luke 2 from the King James Version when I was only 3 years old.
So this morning I was rushing about (typical start to the day of rest) applying the finishing touches and as I flew past the bathroom door on my way to get shoes, I heard him say something about “How is your faith level today?” I yelled to the radio, “I DON’T EVEN WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!”
I knew right then that God was up to something. I had just been complaining to Him that the faith walk wasn’t going so well lately. Apparently He’s determined to work on it with me.
That brings me to the song. I settled back in the pew in church, ready to listen to the cantata while remembering days of yore when I used to be in cantatas. I think my last one was in the day of some extravagant bangs. It’s on video. Unfortunately. Today’s crowd looked much more normal – all in black rather than the baby blue maternity-esque robes we used to wear.
The cantata had a nice flow of nice songs – including one by my precious David Phelps. You can know I was lip-syncing to that one from my pew. And then came “the song.” I could just envision God peering over the side of the Throne watching to see if I’d notice it. I did.
Everything about the song was different from the rest. It was the “fun song” of the set. The upbeat one. The catchy one. Apparently for a reason. The song was sung by the Innkeeper, trying to defend his position as a businessman who needed to make money and clean up the bad rap he’s gotten throughout history for throwing the Son of God’s mother into a barn to give birth.
The chorus of the song said this:
We simply settle. We end up with so much less than the miracles God has in mind to do. Oh yes we settle. What we get is not the best – not the wonder that He planned for me and you. Instead of all He wants to give us, we end up with so little. And we miss out on so much more because we settle.
Gulp. Okay God, I got the point. God could see the wheels turning in my little brain, feverishly trying to gain a plan B and C in case the A He told me about fails to work. And I have a feeling that A is going to sit in a stalled position until I quit trying to form B and C.
These days of Advent that I’ve been studying and writing about – well, this song could be the theme song of each person’s life. If any of them…all of them…had settled for something else, they’d have missed out on God’s plan to involve them personally with Jesus’ life – somewhere from birth to the cross. And I’m learning that the same is true for me. And I have a feeling it’s the same for you.
So, Dad, to answer your question – today it’s not so great. But God hasn’t given up on making the answer a super!!! I know He is anti-settle and determined to get me there as well.
But first, let me fill you in on why it made my list of great songs for the Christmas season. You know…given that I don’t actually know the song.
Let me back up to this morning while I was getting ready for church. My Dad has a radio program – just in case you didn’t know that. One program airs at an hour far before my day of rest begins. So I listen to the second one while I get ready. I try never to miss it because as sure as I do…that will be the Sunday he talks about me. Or worse (given that it’s the Christmas season) the Sunday he plays that recording of me reciting Luke 2 from the King James Version when I was only 3 years old.
So this morning I was rushing about (typical start to the day of rest) applying the finishing touches and as I flew past the bathroom door on my way to get shoes, I heard him say something about “How is your faith level today?” I yelled to the radio, “I DON’T EVEN WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!”
I knew right then that God was up to something. I had just been complaining to Him that the faith walk wasn’t going so well lately. Apparently He’s determined to work on it with me.
That brings me to the song. I settled back in the pew in church, ready to listen to the cantata while remembering days of yore when I used to be in cantatas. I think my last one was in the day of some extravagant bangs. It’s on video. Unfortunately. Today’s crowd looked much more normal – all in black rather than the baby blue maternity-esque robes we used to wear.
The cantata had a nice flow of nice songs – including one by my precious David Phelps. You can know I was lip-syncing to that one from my pew. And then came “the song.” I could just envision God peering over the side of the Throne watching to see if I’d notice it. I did.
Everything about the song was different from the rest. It was the “fun song” of the set. The upbeat one. The catchy one. Apparently for a reason. The song was sung by the Innkeeper, trying to defend his position as a businessman who needed to make money and clean up the bad rap he’s gotten throughout history for throwing the Son of God’s mother into a barn to give birth.
The chorus of the song said this:
We simply settle. We end up with so much less than the miracles God has in mind to do. Oh yes we settle. What we get is not the best – not the wonder that He planned for me and you. Instead of all He wants to give us, we end up with so little. And we miss out on so much more because we settle.
Gulp. Okay God, I got the point. God could see the wheels turning in my little brain, feverishly trying to gain a plan B and C in case the A He told me about fails to work. And I have a feeling that A is going to sit in a stalled position until I quit trying to form B and C.
These days of Advent that I’ve been studying and writing about – well, this song could be the theme song of each person’s life. If any of them…all of them…had settled for something else, they’d have missed out on God’s plan to involve them personally with Jesus’ life – somewhere from birth to the cross. And I’m learning that the same is true for me. And I have a feeling it’s the same for you.
So, Dad, to answer your question – today it’s not so great. But God hasn’t given up on making the answer a super!!! I know He is anti-settle and determined to get me there as well.
2 comments:
All I have to say is, "Ouch!" Thanks, Bekah!
Sorry to ouch you!! But I'm glad someone else can sit in my ouch boat with me!!! And can I just say...that sermon He started at 8:30 in the morning continued until about 1 this morning when I read my devo in "God Calling?" It was about the times when it seems like nothing is happening in your spiritual life because you can't "write" what God is doing - but He's still working.
OKAY OKAY!!! I GET IT!!!
Yet apparently I don't....
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