Seven Songs Of Christmas: "Joseph's Song"

I first heard this one several years ago, it is still a very moving song to me.

How could it be this baby in my arms
Sleeping now, so peacefully
The Son of God, the angel said
How could it be?

Lord, I know He's not my own
Not of my flesh, not of my bone
Still Father let this baby be
The son of my love

 

Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a man be father to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king, how can I raise a king?

He looks so small, His face and hands so fair
And when He cries the sun just seems to disappear
But when He laughs it shines again
How could it be?

 

Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a man be father to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king, how can I raise a king?

How could it be this baby in my arms
Sleeping now, so peacefully
The Son of God, the angel said
How could it be? How could it be?

                                        -Michael J. Card

 

Seven Songs Of Christmas: "For Unto Us A Child Is Born"

Along with the "Hallelujah Chorus", I think this is my favorite song from Handel's Messiah. This choir sings it so perfectly...


"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:5)

Seven Songs Of Christmas: "O Come, Emmanuel"

I must include an instrumental Christmas song. Normally I'm not a huge fan of minor key music...but this one is played SO beautifully. What's not to love?

 

Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel Translated: John Neal, 1818-66

 

 

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here 
Until the Son of God appear. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

 

Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high, 
Who ordered all things mightily; 
To us the path of knowledge show, 
and teach us in her ways to go.

 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

 

Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might, 
Who to your tribes on Sinai's height 
In ancient times gave holy law, 
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

 

Oh, come O Rod of Jesse's stem, 
From ev'ry foe deliver them 
That trust your mighty pow'r to save; 
Bring them in vict'ry through the grave. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

 

Oh, come, O Key of David, come, 
And open wide our heav'nly home; 
Make safe the way that leads on high, 
And close the path to misery. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

 

Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high, 
And cheer us by your drawing nigh, 
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, 
And death's dark shadows put to flight.

 
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

 

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind 
In one the hearts of all mankind; 
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease, 
And be yourself our King of Peace. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Seven Songs Of Christmas: "Son Of God"

Words don't describe how impressed and blessed I was when I first heard this song. Just make sure you listen to it with earphones...

Son of God, Purest light
Lord on high, Is here tonight
Stamping through, This sacred sky
Suddenly Our eyes behold
Heaven's perfect Plan unfold
Son of God

Son of God, Love divine
Timeless one, Steps in to die
Who could dream Of such a thing
With us now The King of Kings
Man and angels Bow and sing
Singing Hallelujah Hallelujah

We're singing
Gloria, Hallelujah
We're singing
Gloria, Hallelujah
We're singing
Gloria, Hallelujah
We're singing Gloria

 Our God is with us
Emmanuel
Our God is with us
(We're
Singing Hallelujah)
Singing Gloria

Seven Songs Of Christmas: "Do You Have Room?"

I don't necessarily support the singers or the one who wrote the song, but I love the music and lyrics of this one.

 

Do You Have Room?

They journeyed far, a weary pair;

They sought for shelter from the cold night air.

Some place where she could lay her head,

Where she could give her Babe a quiet bed.

 

Was there no room? No corner there?

In all the town a spot someone could spare?

Was there no soul come to their aid?

A stable bare was where the family stayed.

Do you have room for the Savior? And do you seek Him anew?

Have you a place for the One who lived and died for you?

Are you as humble as a shepherd boy, or as wise as men of old?

Would you have come that night? Would you have sought the light?

Do you have room?

A star arose, a wondrous light,

A sign from God – this was the holy night,

And yet so few would go to see

The Babe who came to rescue you and me.

This Child divine is now a King.

The gift of life to all the world He brings,

And all mankind He saves from doom,

But on that night, for Him, there was no room.

Do you have room for the Savior? And do you seek Him anew?

Have you a place for the One who lived and died for you?

Are you as humble as a shepherd boy, or as wise as men of old?

Would you have come that night? Would you have sought the light?

Do you have room?

 

Will you come tonight? Will you seek the light?

Do you have room?

 

© S. Edwards 2004

 

 

Seven Songs Of Christmas: "Breath Of Heaven"

This song was introduced to me by a daughter a few years ago as being one of her favorites. It's definitely one of mine now, too. I was all by myself when I listened to this the other day so I let the tears flow...Yes, it's that's beautiful-especially with the clips from "The Nativity" movie.

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

 

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

 

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, 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, Breath of Heaven

Breath of Heaven

                                           -C. Eaton/A. Grant

 

Seven Songs Of Christmas: "The Wexford Carol"

I have been blessed with listening to Christmas music this season, some of which I had never heard. Over the next seven days I would like to post them here for you, in the order of which I found them.

This first one is "The Wexford Carol" or "Good People All, This Christmas-Time", a traditional Irish Christmas carol originating from County Wexford and dating to the 12th century.
(This might not work for some of you. In that case, just go here.)

Here are the lyrics, for those who like to follow along.

Good people all, this Christmas time,

Consider well and bear in mind

What our good God for us has done

In sending his beloved son

With Mary holy we should pray,

To God with love this Christmas Day

In Bethlehem upon that morn,

There was a blessed Messiah born

The night before that happy tide

The noble Virgin and her guide

Were long time seeking up and down

To find a lodging in the town

But mark right well what came to pass

From every door repelled, alas

As was foretold, their refuge all

Was but a humble ox's stall

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep

Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep

To whom God's angel did appear

Which put the shepherds in great fear

Arise and go, the angels said

To Bethlehem, be not afraid

For there you'll find, this happy morn

A princely babe, sweet Jesus, born

With thankful heart and joyful mind

The shepherds went the babe to find

And as God's angel had foretold

They did our Saviour Christ behold

Within a manger he was laid

And by his side a virgin maid

Attending on the Lord of Life

Who came on earth to end all strife

There were three wise men from afar

Directed by a glorious star

And on they wandered night and day

Until they came where Jesus lay

And when they came unto that place

Where our beloved Messiah lay

They humbly cast them at his feet

With gifts of gold and incense sweet.

 

Five Favorite Fotos

I was looking back through my posts and found this one still in drafts from over a year ago. They're just photos but I think they shouldn't stay in storage-what a waste that would be! So I post them here to share with you...for what they're worth.

 

 

 

 

Three Little Birds

My apologies for not having posted the sequel to my bird story before now! I have no good reasons just poor excuses.

These weeks of observing the family of Sabiá's was very interesting and entertaining. It also was a learning experience, teaching me about the life of birds and reminding me many times about God's care for His children.

I love this picture of one bird with his "arm" wrapped around his sibling.

Eyes are still closed but you can see how big those eyes are! And look at the adorable downy feathers forming on the head and back.

Quickly growing and filling up the nest...

 As soon as they hear their mother's "cluck" or sense movement on the nest, their beaks fling open.

 Look how tall they can stretch their neck...

 ...and how wide they can open their mouth!

 Both mother and father worked all day long to feed their triplets. I was impressed with their diligence, determination and dedication!

I was able to get lots of close-ups of the parents. Here's one...

Ever get the staredown by a bird? She always kept her eye on me 

but never once did she try to attack me. I think she knew she could trust me.

Ok, now the wing feathers are forming. They are about 4 days old here.

 We're really looking alert now! Junior is 13 days old.

 As I had done a couple other times, I gently rubbed his head...

But this time, all of a sudden, he jumped up and flew out of the nest! Then Little Brother and Little Sister followed suit! There were several moments of scurrying around and yelling as we sought to keep our dog from getting them. Needless to say, I was not taking pictures during those moments!

We tied up Morgan...but you can tell where her attention is. She was definitey on "red alert". By the way, she isn't normally black and brown, she's really black and white! She's been in the digging mood recently...

I spent the rest of that day in the backyard, keeping watch over the 3 little birds and making sure they didn't wander too close to Morgan.

Sometimes they stayed in one place for a long time.

But they usually went off to find a new place to wait...

And mommy always had to hunt for them. She always found them, of course,

 because they called for her every few minutes.

Oh, honestly Junior, are you still hungry??

Long story shortened...Morgan got one of them that night. Yes, I know,

she looks so totally innocent. Not.

 

And the next day another one fell into the blue tub which had water in it.

Death by drowning.

That left the last one to fend for himself.

I named him George. Doesn't he look like a George?

 

 

He stuck around for 3 more days, spending most of his time in a little alleyway behind the house which we'd blocked off so Morgan couldn't get to him. He liked to sit up on the windowsill and just wait for Mommy to come feed him...

 

On Friday morning we saw no signs of him (nor signs that Morgan got him!) so we're assuming and hoping that he finally managed to fly high enough to escape to freedom.

 

"Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young..." (Psalm 84:3a)

 

"He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry."

 

(Psalm 147:9)

 

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

(Matthew 19:29-31)

Dashed Hopes Rise Again

All that hooplah, excitement and happy hopes about the expectant bird...fell to the ground, literally, a few days after I wrote about it. 

On the 12th day (Sunday) I checked the nest. This is what I saw...

Only one egg! What happened??

  I looked around on the ground and finally saw this...

which really made me sad.

The next day I checked the nest...

Where did the other egg go?? I have no idea. Someone suggested that sparrows may have done some of this but I think it was something a little bit bigger to be able to haul it out of the nest, don't you?

 

And then...

...a few days later I noticed that a sabiá was flying in and out of a tree just outside my bedroom window. I checked and, sure enough, she had made a nest. This might in fact be the same one that made the first nest. One reason I think so is that this one also lets me get pretty near the nest, like she's used to "the lady with the camera". 

She makes a hiding "wall" with her tail. Beautiful detail (no pun intended)!

Ever the watchful eye.

As soon as she gave me a chance, I took a picture to see how many eggs there were.

Once again, there were two. So beautiful. So perfect.

 

 About 3 days later I checked again and....

...there were three eggs! Hey, that momma means business.

And so do does this one. I plan to do all I can to help protect these beautiful creations of His.

That includes shooing away the sparrows...hawks...whatever and whoever is her enemy.

 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

(Proverbs 13:12)