Let them grow up, too, with the shout of a King in their midst. There are, in this poor stuff we call human nature, founts of loyalty, worship, passionate devotion, glad service, which have, alas! to be unsealed in the earth-laden older heart, but only ask place to flow from the child.
During a visit to the National Gallery of Art, we had the privilege of learning from Dr. David Gariff, a senior lecturer at the Gallery. We walked among and reflected upon a dozen Nativity masterpieces.
In melodious repetition a larger harmony came forth, instruments and voice proclaiming the God who is God of all comfort beckoning to his people. Handel makes skillful use of “word painting,” a technique by which the music reflects the literal meaning of a song.
In 1978, my mother and father had started a Christian school in India called The Calcutta Emmanuel School. Originally, they had no intention to start a school. My father had a counseling center and there were always poor children playing outside on the street and making so much noise. It drew his attention, and the school became an answer to the needs of these children.
I had before me a six-year old’s rendering of a giraffe. There was a tinge of grace in the play, the picture, and the presentation. Such graces shape the heart of a child. Such graces make for a hint of Christmas every day.
When we think of relationships, we usually think of those persons whose lives have touched our lives – family, friends, and co-workers. As important as these are, we must expand our vision.
All that we encounter, abundance and scarcity, joy and suffering, the beautiful and the ghastly, become meaningful in our sacrifice to God; it all becomes our offering.
This week, across the United States from ‘sea to shining sea,’ our Ambleside School communities are taking a pause to reflect and honor our country’s veterans as we do each year.
Rarely do we see transformation in one simple step, and never have I seen it without tension. We can use that tension and decide that what we left behind was left behind us.
