Christmas Lullaby

Are you far away from home
This dark and lonely night
Tell me what best would help
To ease your mind
Someone to give
Direction for this unfamiliar road
Or one who says, "Follow me and
I will lead you home"

How beautiful
How precious
The Savior of old
To love so
Completely
The loneliest soul
how gently
how tenderly
He says to one and all,
"Child you can follow Me
And I will lead you home
Trust Me and follow Me
And I will lead you home"

Be near me, Lord Jesus
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care
And take us to Heaven
To live with Thee there
Take us to Heaven
To live with Thee there

Today is the longest day of the year, which also means it is the longest night. Around the world tonight churches will hold services for those who are grieving or hurting this Christmas, for those who are feeling eclipsed by the darkness of night. While many revel in this season, so many find themselves in despair. While many sing Joy to the World, there are others who can barely muster a Happy Holidays. These dear friends are in a winter of the soul, bitterly cold and in search of any hope in this long, barren season.

This season can be so lonely, so isolating. In the busyness we hardly connect with one another. In the hustle and bustle we forget to listen and truly hear the hurting people around us. As we are surrounded by family, we often forget that there are many who don't have a soul to share the season with. How precious would it be for us to approach the hurting and listen? How beautiful would it be to ask how we can help those deep in their dark and lonely night? Are they looking for direction for the unfamiliar road? Are they in search of someone to guide them, someone who will say follow me, and I will lead you home?

Perhaps it is at the Christmas season most of all that the lonely and hurting desperately need the tiny baby Jesus. Perhaps it is in dark winter, that the light of the Savior might shine the brightest. Perhaps it is time to take the hand of the lonely and hurting and tell them this comforting truth: the Savior of old loves so completely the loneliest soul. Jesus, in His tender and gentle love, came specifically to the lonely. He didn't come to the popular, to the beloved, to the thriving, He came with the hurting in mind. He came because He wanted to dwell with those who were alone. He wanted to be present with those who were hurting.

Jesus comes and takes the hand of the hurting. He goes out into the snow in search of the child shivering in the cold, hungry and lonely and wounded. He wraps the coat around his shoulders, just as Jesus has wrapped Himself in flesh, and He holds this aching kid. He says, you can follow me. Trust me. Follow me. I will lead you to a place where you will always be accepted. I will lead you to a place where you will always be at home.

Jesus has offered this great gift, this immense love. It is now in the hands of the child to trust, to follow, to move into that forever home. The Savior came that we might never be alone, that we might never feel the pang of rejection and unworthiness again. But we have to choose His friendship; we must trust His goodness. It is in the trusting that we can follow Him to the home of warmth and comfort; a home filled with food that always satisfies and water that permanently quenches. 

It is when we embrace the heart of a child, the tender innocence of the sweet lullaby, that we are able to let go of our freezing, dark hovel and follow the good Savior home. It is our nature to love and trust what we know, to choose the chains because the freedom is terrifying. We don't know what the home will be like; it is unpredictable and uncertain. To accept the freedom is vulnerable; it could end in greater anguish. But if the choice is our hovel or a possible mansion, we must risk the disappointment to gain the greater good. And Jesus is that greater good. 

So lonely and hurting, take my hand, and sing with me this simple child's lullaby. Trust and ask: be near me Lord Jesus, I ask You to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray. Please Jesus, sweet and tender babe, dwell with me always. Never leave my side. Hold my hand, hold me near. Love me forever, even though I'll constantly wander from you. I'm so tempted to go back to the hovel. Please Jesus, draw me back again and again to the mansion. Thank you for loving me, for accepting me, for leading me home. I don't ever want to me alone again; thank you Jesus that I don't have to be. That is the greatest gift. Amen.