EVERGREEN THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest…You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor…For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Isaiah 9:2-6

Tonight the year’s red carpet rolls beneath the evergreen,

And little eyes are savoring what older ones have seen

Of the star above the stable tied on limbs with golden strings;

Of dancing flashes of color in the snow-white angels’ wings.

The magic inextinguishable in spite of age or care

Or troubles that without this season permeate the air

Still fill the chamber so reserved for frolic and frost and bells

And flaunts the dream before us, ‘til we’re caught within its spell,

Finding bright, new selves within, beribboned by the season,

With tinsel of good cheer and comfort, transcending any reason;

Forgetting for the moment confining earthly chains,

But kept aloft and soaring on the carolers’ refrains.

Despair is dead, and the awful haunts are for awhile unseen-

Encircled yet another year by wreaths of evergreen.

Christians are the ones whose job it is to show a dark, lost world that Christmas is not just for one season. We are to be the evergreen message that wafts its fragrance in mid-May. We are the tinsel that shines in July and September, the candles that glow with hope’s lovely warmth in February and the Fourth of July just as certainly as in December.

If it’s never occurred to you that it’s your job, take hold of the notion and claim it as truth. If you’ve never been able to do it before, believe that next year you can. A world is dying from our lack of awareness. Let us pay attention and stay evergreen throughout the year with the message of the Child that was born to shatter our yokes.