"YET IN THY DARK STREETS SHINETH"

"YET IN THY DARK STREETS SHINETH"

I awoke at five a.m.
    that morning
A few days before
    Christmas...
thinking serious thoughts
and feeling prayerful.

Not known around
    for being a five a.m. pray-er,
I thought: "What's up?"

What was up was---
    the words of a Christmas hymn
I read yesterday, were still ringing
    through my mind:
"O Little Town of Bethlehem,"
    a much-weightier song than
usually noticed...

I was thinking:
This oft-sung Christmas expression
    has prayers that humanity needs:

"O holy Child of Bethlehem
    descend to us we pray...
Cast out our sin and enter in,
    Be born in us today."

I thought: Isn't  that
    what God is after---
To be born in every heart;
    After all, he could have made
us angels...but he wants
    people who choose him...
People with changed hearts.

To a hopeless, sinful world,
    The message comes...
The answer to it all---

       Here it is:

"Yet in thy dark streets shineth
   the Everlasting Light!
The hopes and fears of all the years
    are met in thee tonight!"

I kept thinking, there in the
    darkness of the early morning---
What is Christmas really all about?

It is good that it is about families,
    and love...and symbolic giving,
Tho' imperfect man oft carries
    things too far...overdoes them...

   Christmas, of course, is the 

         celebration of the

   Birth of Christ.

    

At my age, I've learned
    that I don't need any more
material things---
    I suspect that what I and
all of mankind need for
    Christmas...
is the want-list in Philip Bliss'
    great hymn:

"More holiness give me,
More striving within;
More patience in suffering
More sorrow for sin.
More faith in my Savior,
More sense of his care---
More joy in His service
More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me
More trust in the Lord;
More pride in His glory
More hope in His word;
More tears for His sorrows
More pain at His grief;
More meekness in trial
More praise for relief.

More purity give me
More strength in the Lord;
More freedom from earth-stains,
More longings for home;
More fit for the kingdom
More used would I be;
More blessed and holy
More, Savior like Thee."
"O come to us...abide with us...
Our Lord, Emmanuel,"

  Amen.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings O Little Town Of Bethlehem ..

More Holiness Give Me - YouTube

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BY MIL
12/19/13