A December Lament

Hope in the Bleak Midwinter

I just need to sit with the baby boy in a manger.
I can't do all the pomp and circumstance;
If I'm honest, all the joy and happiness 
That accompanies the month of December
Is only something I remember 
Feeling in years gone by. 
Christmas carols make me want to cry,
But I know I'm not the only one with tears in my eyes 
Cause the baby boy in the manger too cried tears that Christmas night.
And I just want to sit with him and cry too
Over all the brokenness that I know he came to undo.
I don't feel all the tidings of comfort and joy,
But as I sit by the manger that holds the baby boy,
I can feel anguished, weary, and distressed.
I'd rather be there than at a party in a fancy dress
Surrounded by tinsel, sparkling lights, and impressive presents.
Maybe next year, the festivities will appeal to me.
But today, I want to feel the empathy of the stable
Cause this Christmas, I'm feeling quite unstable.

At the manger, I feel safe and seen
Regardless of how disenchanting it seems.
I need to sit and stare, for a while, at Hope
Wrapped in the swaddling clothes that shows
Hope may not come in the form you would expect.
It's not something that you would recognize.
You might even feel paralyzed 
For a while of the method by which God intends 
To make amends
For the wounds of despair.
Nobody would expect to find Hope there. 
So, when I look at the places in my life that resemble
Somewhere that I wouldn't expect God to be,
I remember he came to a stable.
Unfit for a king,
With no one but shepherds to sing his praises.
A place of discomfort and darkness,
The bleak midwinter spotlighting their loneliness.
Yet, that's where he loves to abide - 
In the places you wouldn't expect, He delights
To give us hope that he will mend the bruised reeds,
And he does exceedingly and abundantly above all we could conceive,
And he does this through the baby in the swaddling clothes.
We need only look at the baby boy in the manger to see there is Hope.