This blog was so graciously written by Niki Kredit, a long time volunteer and friend of Katelyn’s Fund!
O Come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Oh come ye oh come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him, born the king of angels oh come let us adore him, oh come let us adore him, oh come let us adore him Christ the Lord.
This is a popular Christmas carol…..I can sing it from memory and get almost all the words right. I can hum it, I can even sound it out on the piano. It lives under my skin, in the lining of my soul, and yet I can separate myself so easily from the words, the meaning, the purpose of it. Oh come…oh come….oh come. The invitation is profound and open wide for us all…..and not just for Christmas. Why don’t we sing some of these songs all year long? This one for sure.
We can come ye to Bethlehem because that is where we encounter the truth of the story of Jesus, that he came to us in flesh and blood as a baby. He didn’t have to come as a fragile, sweet and adorable human child. He didn’t have to come as the lamb……scripture says next time he will not. He will come as the Lion with power and authority and make all the wrong things right. We rejoice and remember to be joyful and practice joy when we, the faithful come. We know that the victory is in Jesus, and the battles are won and the triumph is ours, as the faithful, when we come.
Oh come, all ye faithful. Oh come all ye hurting and aching and waiting and wondering. Oh come ye to Bethlehem and remember the story of the Christ child who was born to us so that we could know joy and triumph in His Holy Name. King Jesus.
Oh come, all ye who feel less faithful, less joyful, less triumphant. Still come. Come again and again. Every day, sometimes every hour. When the darkness feels so dark and the weariness brings sleepless exhaustion but all you want is relief and rest. Come and behold him. He was born king of the angels! The angels that guard and attend us while we sleep and watch over us when we are awake…..Jesus the Christ child was born King over them! If the angels sing praises and adore their king, so should we.
Adore the baby born in Bethlehem. Adore the Savior who came for us, who says to his people, his faithful, Come. Oh come all ye faithful and be joyful and triumphant. He came so that every day we are invited to come.
This week I had extra to do. Extra work responsibilities, extra fatigue after a big weekend with holiday and family and activities. I also agreed to extra care and love for some of the extra kredits in my life. One needed to hang out with us for a few days because his parents didn’t have childcare and could not miss work or would possibly get fired. A couple needed a safe place to stay so that their caregivers could go out of town to celebrate a huge milestone of their adult son who was graduating from military school A couple of others just needed a greeting and some pancakes for breakfast and a ride to school because their mama needed to take a sibling to doctor appointments. Mid-week I had a meltdown close to bedtime. I was so tired. I was physically tired from the care and keeping of so many kids. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted from the weight of so many families who lack the support and protective factors that all families need to thrive….and how for may of them, I am the first call or best call or only call they have to make when they need help. I felt weak. I felt frustrated and angry that the caregivers they should have had in their contact list as back up didn’t exist because of sin and selfishness and ugliness that were not their fault. The tears started and I just could not make them stop.
I went to bed that night feeling puffy from crying, and doing that shudder sigh thing one does when they have cried long and hard. Around 3 am I woke up and the Lord was speaking scripture over me. I begged him to help me remember the verse because it was so good. He spoke it over me several times over the nighttime and as I listened I also heard the Christmas song to Come. Oh Come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, come ye oh come ye to Bethlehem.
I still can’t recall the exact scripture He was speaking over me in that night. If it comes back to me I will let you all know. If not, it must not matter for right now. The point is to come….
