Breath of Heaven

I have traveled many moonless nights
Cold and weary with a babe inside
And I wonder what I've done
Holy Father you have come
And chosen me now
To carry your son

I am waiting in a silent prayer
I am frightened by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone
Must I walk this path alone
Be with me now
Be with me now

[Chorus:]
Breath of heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of heaven
Breath of heaven
Lighten my darkness
Pour over me your holiness
For you are holy
Breath of heaven

Do you wonder as you watch my face
If a wiser one should have had my place
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan
Help me be strong
Help me be
Help me

This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs. I have always loved Amy Grant, and her Christmas CDs are my must-listen-to's when I bust out my holiday tunes. And every year, without fail, the first time I listen to this song I cry.


I think I love this song for the same reason I love the Psalms in the Bible. I love the raw, authentic emotion in this dialog with God. Mary isn't pulling any punches. She very directly pours out her inadequacies, her fears, her failures, and ultimately her complete trust that God will be enough for her through this journey.


In the first verse we see her real struggle to understand how God could have chosen her for such a precious calling. I wonder what I've done:

What does He see in me? Was it that time I gave my loaf of bread to the hungry widow on the corner? Maybe it was all of those days I sat in the synagogue listening to the teacher and loving the promises of God? Or perhaps it was the tunes I hummed while making breakfast each day, my little love songs to God? Who am I kidding?!? Any woman would do those things! I'm not extraordinary! Nothing sets me apart. In fact I've fallen so many times. I've been downright cruel to my brother--he is so annoying! And oh the lying--I have told some big whoppers to my parents. Let's not forget that I've thought countless times that if I could just perfectly follow the law, God would somehow save me. I'm not perfect, why would God call me the Favored One? Why has He chosen me? I don't get it.


Does that dialog sound familiar to you? Have you ever tried to figure out why God would choose you to be His child? Have you ever tried to list your merits and help you make sense of it all? Or maybe you've done the opposite. Maybe you've catalogued all of your failures, certain that God must have made a mistake when He called your heart His own. God chooses you because He loves you; He calls you because you were made to be His. And in His gracious goodness, He includes you in His story, He calls you to play a role in His narrative. He has chosen you, you with your specific and beautiful giftings, you with your specific and beautiful brokenness. He chose you. He sees you, He knows you, He created you for these things you are doing. Just like Mary, we are favored ones, called out on the hard and breathtaking journey of bringing Jesus to a broken world. We love her story because it is our own.


So when we reach the second verse we have no trouble visualizing Mary's silent pleadings. We see ourselves, tear-streaked faces, surrounded by a heartless and cruel world. The burdens we carry terrify us. Will we be able to deliver on our promises? Will we be able to survive the path that gets us to the end? We feel alone. We feel abandoned by both God and others. And in our prayers we cry out for mercy, not for deliverance from the journey but for the presence of a loving God.


Mary doesn't ask for God to remove her load, she doesn't ask to quit. When Gabriel comes to her she says, voice trembling, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. Mary is willing. She is scared, she is heavy-laden, she is weary, she is alone, but she is willing. Her prayers are not for God to remove her from the pain, but for Him to be ever-present.


Breath of Heaven--such a lovely picture of an ever-present God. It is the breath of comfort; the sound of breathing next to you that means you are not alone. It is the warm breath of life on freezing cold hands. It is the sharp breath in when you are frightened, but your lungs and body fill with life. It is the deep intake of breath that signals relief and peace. Heaven's breath, God's warm, life-giving breath. This is what Mary begs of God.


Breath of Heaven bring light to this frightening darkness. Breath of Heaven hold me together, I feel like I am falling apart. Breath of Heaven give me holiness, for I fall so incredibly short. I know You can do those things, You are holy, You are good, You are true. Be with me now, please. I can't do it without you.


The final verse was one I sang over and over again after Hope died. I wondered, as God watched me respond to my loss in complete and total anguish, if He wished He had chosen someone different to bear that cross. Was I faithful enough in the face of heartbreak? Was I living out my love for God in the ways He wanted me to? I can hear Mary's heart cry out and ask her God if she is enough. Do I have what it takes? But her next line shows that she has everything God would ask of her, a willingness to be faithful to the God that she trusts. She offers all of herself for all that God is. She is God's unwavering servant, trusting that God will be both merciful to her and merciful to His people through this miraculous plan.

But this willingness leaves her completely dependent on God. She utters, Help me be strong. Help me be. Help me. I love how her words trail off at the end. Mary wants to ask for help, she knows she needs God's aid, but she is now at the point of overwhelming fear where her words fail her. Mary has no more words, just the cry of her heart that God not leave her alone in this trying journey.


I long to have Mary's unwavering faith, her willingness to follow God's plan, at every cost to herself. I long to not back away from the hard or the frightening, but instead to press into the mercy of Jesus. And I long to know, truly know deep in my heart, that oftentimes God's greatest mercy is merely His presence. Not merely as in, well that's all that He could give. But instead merely as in, His presence alone is enough to sustain me in this wearying world. I long to know that the Breath of Heaven can hold me together, shine light in my darkness, imbue holiness and be forever near me.

God's presence alone is His greatest mercy, and thus Christmas is God's greatest act of mercy, for He sent His presence to be with us always. In Christmas we find that we need not ever journey without our God again. He has come to be forever near us. The Breath of Heaven is here. Praise be to God!

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men
From heavens all gracious King!"
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

O ye beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Don't you just love it when you are listening to a song you've heard a thousand times and you hear something you've never heard before? Music and literature are amazing this way! Something that seems so familiar takes on new shape and new life because you are listening with new ears. You are not the same person you were yesterday; the events of your days, the hardships and the joys, they change you. And so each time you come to a song, a sonnet, your favorite book, the potential for new meaning is there.

Yesterday just that thing happened to me. I was listening to It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and for some reason my ears latched on to the second verse. It begins O ye beneath life's crushing load, Whose forms are bending low. Perhaps it is because I know many who feel this way right now, crushed by the weight of this world, hunched over from the load they carry on their shoulders and in their souls. Or maybe it is because I see this in the world around me--a heavy-hearted nation, wounded by division and hatred. Or perhaps it is the heaviness I feel as I look at the suffering in my own life, the ache of horrible moments and seasons that do not know complete healing. Whatever the case may be, my ears tuned in to hear just what the angels would sing to me, to my hurting friends, to this aching world.

The angels recognize that the weight of the world amounts to great toil, agonizing work that makes little progress. Our steps are painful, they are slow. We seek to make things better, day after day waking to try a little harder to improve our existence. We toil a little more to gain the approval of others. We even strive tirelessly to impress a perfect God, hoping to satisfy Him with our good deeds. The angels know we are constantly bogged down by the chains of trying to be more, do more, achieve more. They see us on this weary road, and they beg us to pause, to rest, and to hear the good news.

"Listen!" they beg. "Hear us!" they shout. "We bring great news!" they proclaim. The day has come, the one that the prophets told us about. The long waiting for a solution to this striving has ended. The Messiah has come, ushering in the new heaven and the new earth--a taste of the redeemed kingdom is here. The Prince of Peace has come, bringing peace for your weary soul--no more anxious toiling. The King has come, bringing strength and power for your weary body--He brings a new kingdom where all broken things will be made new. The Savior has come, bringing good news--He is enough, so you don't have to keep trying to be. 

Are you listening? Can you hear the good news they herald? Do you feel your soul exhale in rest? Sit down on a rock beside that weary road and just listen. Soak it up. Hear the news of freedom and truth. Set aside the load you carry and lay it at the feet of the Christ Child. He has come that you might no longer be crushed. In fact, He comes to crush the evil one who has crushed you for oh-so-many years. Lift up your head, feel the weight lifted, and join the chorus of praise. 

The King, the Savior, the Prince of Peace has come. Let us echo back the praise of the angels. May we, the weary, rest and rejoice for we are liberated from our load! Praise be to God!

Angels from the Realms of Glory

 Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.

The angels feature prominently in the Christmas story. The Angel of the Lord delivers news to Zacharias about John the Baptist's coming birth. Next we find him in Mary's bedroom proclaiming news that she is with child, which is followed quickly on the heels by a visit to Joseph. The visits from the Angel are terrifying; scripture describes some of the angels as having six wings and speaking with voices that boom like thunder. Each time the Angel of the Lord appears, he begins his monologue with "Do not be afraid." I think that might be the equivalent of Hagrid showing the students of Hogwarts his pet spider Aragog and suggesting that they not fear. Some beings are just terrifying in nature. Such is the Angel of the Lord.

But these angelic beings strike fear and wonder, for each time they come proclaiming great news. Those who couldn't conceive are with child; Mary has found favor with the Lord and He has chosen her to be the mother of the living God; God has seen Joseph's love for Mary and charges him with being faithful to her and with raising His Son. All good, but terrifyingly miraculous news. I can just imagine the incredulous laughter, that laughter the builds out of fear and nervousness and just pure awe, falling out of the mouths of each recipient. Can the things this angel is saying be true? They must be! He has come directly from the presence of God to deliver this information. It must be true. It must be true.

As Angels from the Realms of Glory reminds us, these angels were there at the dawn of creation. Being created before men, before our heavens and earth, these angels watched as Jesus spoke our universe into being. They proclaimed the majesty and glory of each new creation; they resounded in heavenly oohs and aahs as God spoke each new wonder to life. There was a chorus of praise resounding after each, "It is good" that God spoke. These same angels that watched the beginning of it all--the splendor of man created in God's own image, and the heartbreaking agony of Adam and Eve turning from their Maker--are now here to magnify God in the beauty of His rescue plan!

They've been waiting, wondering just what God had in mind. They heard His promise to Adam and Eve in the garden that one day He would crush the serpent. One of their own stood guard at Eden so that man and woman could not return, but Eden had not been destroyed. God had a plan to restore His children to the shalom they knew in the Garden. And now finally, finally, the angel Gabriel had been sent to deliver good news of the Savior. The angels got a glimpse of what was coming! Could it be? Is it true that the Son would come? Here, this very night of Jesus' birth, they see the fullness of the rescue plan! They see that God became a man to dwell among the broken and rebellious. They see the fulfillment of all of the promises and prophesies. Their God, their Creator, has left the glories of heaven, to be with the lowly He loved. He left the throne, the comforts, the presence of His beloved Father, to pursue the ones that had betrayed Him.

And the angels sing out! They can't help it! "Glory to God in the highest!" Come and worship, come and worship Christ the newborn King! They get it! They see how all of God's story, all of man's broken, wandering story, has led to this moment. They sit in the heavens amazed at how God has confounded what man would predict the King to be like, and marvel at how the King of the universe has come as a tender child. He is meek, He is helpless, and the angels know, they are certain, that He will reconcile man back to God.

These angels who've dwelt in glory with Jesus now rejoice that He has left them to be with His children. He is gone, but they sing out. He has come to bring the mercy that this people need. They proclaim that sinners, wrung with true repentance...mercy calls you, break your chains! Break your chains! Be free of the sin that has weighed you down since the dawn of creation! The horror of breaking relationship with God, the anguish of being enslaved to our own desires, ends here, with a sweet Child King. The angels can't help but rejoice! God is so good to His people, and they have watched Him be faithful year after year. Here, in this moment, is the ultimate act of faithfulness and selflessness--the Christ is born today in Bethlehem.

They, like us, cannot help but to come and worship.

The Gift Goes On

When I was a child we always listened to Christmas music on the car ride home from our California Thanksgiving holiday. We each had our favorite tapes (yes, tapes!), but I'm quite certain my first request was always Sandi Patty, The Gift Goes On. It's probably not a Christmas song many are familiar with, and listening to it now as a grown up, the song has a certain retro quality to it that maybe doesn't transcend generations, but I still love the lyrics:

The Gift Goes On
Chorus: 
The Father gave the Son
The Son gave the Spirit
The Spirit gives us life
So we can give the Gift of love
And the Gift goes on
And the Gift goes on
And the Gift goes on
And the Gift goes on

Don't you love to get a present wrapped up in a Christmas bow
God gave each of us a present on that night so long ago
It's a Gift that keeps on giving if our spirits can receive
It's the secret joy of living if our hearts can just believe


(Chorus)

When your life is full of Christmas then your life is full of love
You can give away the present that began with God above
Just like ripples in the water the circles of our love extend
What was started with the Father is a Gift that has no end

I love the image in the first verse, that picture of a child with a perfectly-wrapped present sitting in her lap, delight spread across her face. We know this picture, this vision of hope and anticipation oozing out of every pore of a child's being. Christmas is so magical through the eyes of a child--they still are full of wonder, full of awe. Without the to-do list or Christmas rush, they truly delight in each new moment the season brings--brilliant lights, colorful decorations, a gift beneath the tree just for them.

As we grow, we lose some of that wonder and replace it with weary worry. We see the pine needles scattered across the floor to be swept up day after day We see the budget and wonder how we will purchase something for every person on our list. We see the extra work of tearing down the decorations that have so bedazzled the season until now. We lose eyes for the wonder and only see the work.

Which is why we need to look back on the child; we need the picture of that little one full of longing and joy. Because Christmas is about the greatest gift ever given. Christmas is about the gift that outdoes all gifts. Christmas is about the trampoline you asked Santa for, that your parents would never previously let you have, arriving in your backyard Christmas morning! It's that but bigger! It is walking out of your car into a brilliant night full of stars when you've lived in the city your whole life! It's that but bigger! It's the debtor begging for just one more month to get the money together, and the lender forgives every penny of it! It's that but even bigger!

This gift of the Son is greater than our souls can even describe. It is the gift of freedom, it is being clothed in beauty, it is being raised to a glorious position, it is being loved intimately, it is being rescued from death, only to know the richness of the purest life. These words of mine can't do it justice, but I will spend eternity trying to articulate this Gift.

This is the gift the God gave us on that night so long ago. And it's the Gift that keeps on giving if our spirits can receive. The dual purpose of this line always captures my heart--this gift gives to me over and over and over again. Each new day the gift of the Christ Child transforms my life, delivers me from darkness to light. But it's also a gift that I then get to give. It is a gift I can keep on giving, over and over again.  

Just like ripples in the water the circles of our love extend. What has started with the Father is a Gift that has no end. We have been given this incredible Gift by the Giver of all good things and He knows, He knows, that greater than the joy of receiving the greatest gift is the joy of then giving the greatest gift. The having is good, it is oh-so-good, but it isn't enough. We must share this gift, not out of compulsion, not because we have to, but because we want every single person we know to know our joy. Our joy is not complete until we have shared it.

Don't you feel this deep in your soul? Isn't this why Facebook and Instagram are so successful? When we experience something wonderful, we want to share it! We don't want to live it alone, we want others to know it's goodness as well. We are bursting to share the things and people who have given us great joy with as many will listen.

And so it is our joy to share the gift of Jesus with the world. We don't have to, we aren't being manipulated into it, we want to, we are dying to! We have known the greatest gift! Here, here it is! Have it! It's yours! I want you to have it! I want you to know the joy I've known! This is for you!

And the Gift goes on.

Joy to the World--Prepare Him Room

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

I don't know about you, but some days I just don't want to play pretend with my kids. And some days I don't want to put down my phone and talk to my husband at the end of the long day. And some days (okay, most days) I do not want to get out of bed to exercise. It's so easy to get caught up in the don't wannas and to give up on these really important moments of our day.

For me, half of the battle is preparing for these things. I chop the veggies ahead of time, so when we get home from school I have a few minutes to color with Izzy. As I'm reading stories with my kids at bedtime, I remind myself of how much I enjoy conversations with Herb when we have them. Thus when the kids are in bed, I'm mentally ready to enter into hearing the heart of my husband. When I go to bed at night I have my work out clothes set out with a bottle of water, so that I'm mostly ready to get my sweat on. Being prepared allows me to do, and usually enjoy, these every day things.

So as I sat in church this morning and the Pastor Scott asked, "Are you making space in your day for awe and wonder?" I was convicted. Who has time for awe and wonder? Who has time on a walk with your kids to stop and savor the sunset? (I mean, what if they are careening right off the sidewalk and into the street!?!) Who has time to read words in a book and actually think about them? (I'm reading to know something, not to savor!) Who has time to enjoy the laughter of their child? (I have to capture that adorable giggle on camera!) These things that have been created to evoke wonder and awe, these things that should cause us to pause and delight, these things that are to turn our eyes back toward heaven, are now glossed over in favor of rushing, documenting or amusing ourselves. We don't allow ourselves time to savor, to reflect, to enjoy.

But how are we to truly understand the power and depth and meaning of this powerful season if we do not pause to see the magnificence of this one event in history? How can we see the Hope, the Joy, the Peace that arrived on the scene that glorious night, if we are hustling and bustling about in the Christmas rush? We are going to miss it if we do not prepare Him room.

And just like chopping veggies ahead of time, I need to make a plan to prepare Him room. Space, quiet, time are not going to happen accidentally. The don't wannas are going to creep in quickly, and we are going to forget how much we need the time to marvel. We are in desperate need to see, to truly see, that what God has done is unimaginable. This gift, this precious baby boy, changed the world's trajectory completely. We were charting a course of sin and destruction; no matter how many times we tried to alter course we could not realign our hearts with God's vision. And so Jesus came. He took the helm. In the midst of a tumultuous storm, our bearings completely lost, He righted the ship and turned us back toward home.

Do we get it? Do we understand just how broken we were? How broken we are? Do we even take time to realize the evil and selfishness in our hearts? Do we see how desperate we are to be enough and how terribly short we fall of that standard every single time? If we don't have time to look at our hearts, to evaluate our need for a Savior, we will miss the joy of knowing that the Savior has come. We cannot sing Joy to the World unless we know the joy of being free from our crippling need.

Once we have prepared Him room, once we have paused our crazy existences to gaze upon our fragile and shattered hearts and upon the potter who re-molds the clay into something beautiful, then we are ready to receive our King. If we prepare Him room, if we de-clutter our sitting rooms and open our doors, we will have space to allow the King to come and dwell with us. But we must take action, our hearts must prepare.

So chop those veggies ahead of time (or even make a box of Mac and Cheese!), remember how much you enjoyed being in His presence when last you came, and set out your Bible in a quiet, inviting space, and prepare Him room. It's that important! And you will find that your heart joins with the chorus of Heaven and nature. When you sit at the feet of Jesus, your heart will not be able to help but sing, sing, sing, and repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy! Come and prepare your heart for the Savior, stand in awe of your coming King. He will reveal Himself in total splendor. He will come.

Emmanuel

O come, O come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Wonderful counselor

Lord of life, Lord of all
He is the Prince of Peace
Mighty God, Holy One
Emmanuel, Emmanuel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emmanuel, Emmanuel
God incarnate, here to dwell
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Praise His name Emmanuel

Immanuel--God with us. God, with us.

Over the last few months, Izzy and I have been memorizing different passages of scripture. We started with Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is living among you, He is a mighty Savior. He will delight in you with gladness, with His love He will calm your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful singing." As I tucked her in tonight, I read her this verse, and I was struck by Immanuel. This sweet, reassuring passage of scripture starts with Immanuel.

At first I read it quickly, rushing through what I have memorized--The Lord your God is living among you. But then I took pause, The Lord your God is living among you. He is my God, He has created me, formed me from the start, fashioned me in His image. But He is also Lord of life, Lord of all--my God who spoke the heavens into being, who imagined the tiles on the wing of a butterfly, who sculpted mountain ranges and tiny pebbles. And He is living among me. He is here in my laughter, He sees my tears, He knows my temptation, He hears my lies and cruelty, He sees the oppression and the hurt and the anger. He is here.

The immensity of this idea, of God, the author and creator of the whole of His-story, stepping down into the chaos of our world can sometimes crush me. Why do that? Why leave Your throne? Why abandon the comfort of Heaven for the pallor of earth? Why leave a mansion to live in a hovel? It makes no sense to our human, me-centered logic.

But then I think about my child who is sitting in the mud with a skinned knee crying ugly sobs. I don't want to stand and lecture them, I don't want to sit there and watch them suffer alone. I want to run and kneel in the mud and hold my child. All that is within me wants to run. I don't hesitate about the mud, I'm not worried about my clothes, I want to hold my hurting child. Nothing would stop me. 

 

The way to real love is not to watch from afar. The way to real love is not a band-aid or callous pat on the back. Real love enters in. Real love sits in the muck, looks in the eyes, cries beside the wounded, holds the broken, and listens intently. Real love comes to be present, to sit with us in our suffering. Real love comes to dwell.

And it is only once these things are done that real love offers a hand and pulls us back up. In order for the rescue to truly work, the hurting must know that they are not in the muck alone. And not just for a moment, not an awkward crouch down so as not to get the pants dirty. God comes and sits, fully, in the mud. He is here to dwell. He is living among us. And He is a mighty Savior. First He lives among us, and then, and then He saves us.

 

It's a powerful thing when the mighty humble themselves. Sometimes it makes us uncomfortable, like the first time we see our father cry. We aren't sure what to do with the vulnerability that is there when we are so accustomed to seeing strength. But there is also something so incredibly moving to see someone abandon their strength, their power, their might, and watch as they move in compassion towards the one who hurts. It's a soldier laying down a gun and picking up a wounded child,  it's a President stepping out of the motorcade to shake the hand of a hungry veteran, it's the King who leaves His throne to search for His son who has gone missing in battle. It is love that moves these men to humility, and it is love that moves Jesus to come to us in a lowly stable.

 

Immanuel, God with us, because He delights in us with gladness. Immanuel, God with us, so that He can calm our fears. Immanuel, God with us, so that He can rejoice over us. He is mighty, but He loves us, and so He is here to dwell. Praise be to God!

O Holy Night, Part 1

O Holy Night. It's my mother's favorite Christmas song. I've listened to it sung by Nat King Cole and Andy Williams, Josh Groban and Carrie Underwood, but the most favorite version in our family is N'SYNC. What can I say? The heart loves what the heart loves. And I do love this song.

While this song is iconic for the beautiful voices who have carried these notes through concert halls, across albums and into our hearts, it is the powerful words that strike the listener to the core:

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and sorrow pining,
‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn...

Can you feel it? Can you feel the sorrow? The heavy weight of this broken world on your soul? Can you close your eyes and see the hurt on the faces of the hungry you've driven past today? Can you call to mind the tears that streaked down your child's face as they were ridiculed, teased and rejected? Can you remember the ache of a body broken by sickness? Does your soul groan over the loss of someone you love so deeply?

That is where God finds us. In the mess, in the anguish, in the longing for things to be different. He finds the Israelites amidst great oppression. He finds His chosen people displaced from their homeland. He finds women without position or voice. He finds brutal Roman leadership. He finds a weary world. And that's His cue to enter in.

He doesn't look from afar. He doesn't send money, or a delegate, or a rescue spaceship. He comes. The King comes Himself, into a broken, humble, lowly world. He sees our pain and He enters in.

I love the language of this stanza. It is the perfect tension of light and dark, of defeat and victory, of sorrow and healing, of despair and hope. The night Jesus comes to this earth, the dark no longer stands alone. The despair no longer holds court. The sorrow has a challenger. The oppressed have a champion. The light of the world has come, a new morning is breaking. Our souls can feel it break as the music crescendos to this glorious moment.

And we fall on our knees. It's amazing because our pain has brought us to our knees before. We've fallen to our knees and begged for mercy. But now, now, we fall on our knees in awe of the mercy that has come. We can't help but be amazed at how God has seen our need and come, in person, to dwell with us. To dwell with us in our pain, in our fear, in our loneliness. The God of the universe has come to comfort His people, and He's come in person. We fall on our knees and thank God that He has arrived just in time.

The power of this song is that there is a thrill of hope within this weary world; this song captures both the longing of our hearts for the complete healing that Jesus will bring someday and the complete relief we feel that He has not left us to dwell in the anguish alone. He has come. We, the weary, are rejoicing! How miraculous is that?!

I want to stand in the light of the dawn breaking. I want to feel the first rays of sunlight on my face. Yonder it breaks. The fulfillment of hope is coming. The anguish will end. And while I stand and wait, I will take the nail-pierced hand of my Savior, and watch the glorious morn break with Him by my side. He has brought hope, He has cued the dawn. The soul has felt it's worth. The night which was once so bleak is now holy and glorious. Praise be to God that the night breaks way to dawn!