When my father was alive, it was a tradition in our church each Christmas, for him to join the choir in a recitation of this song by Larnel Harris, "All Year Long" With his deep, beautiful voice, he would recite the verses while the choir sang the refrain. It always moved the congregation to tears. With Dad gone now, I still reflect on the message of this song.
In our home, I have held to the tradition of taking down the decorations on January 6th, Epiphany; the arrival of the wise men to the manger, traditionally the 12th day of Christmas. Then comes the hard part. How to keep that spirit alive all year long. How do you? What traditions, acts, or feelings keep the birth of our Lord, and the purpose He came to us alive in your heart?
He braced the old ladder with all of His might
And shouted, "dad have no fear"
As I stretched high to store the stockings and trim
In the attic for another year.
We were busily packing our Christmas away
While singing a carol we knew
When I heard my son in innocence inquire
Do we store away Jesus too?
I smiled at my boy as again I explain
God's longing to reconcile
How He gave to the world the gift of new life
When His yearning became Mary’s child.
Though surrounded by all of man's goods we embrace
The hope of that Bethlehem night
We will never store this blessed gift away
With the tinsel and colored lights.
All Year Long,
We must worship day by day
All year long tis the season to obey.
May the Christmas tree lights
And the sleigh rides at night
Remind us all to stay
In Gods' presence
All Year Long.
As we welcome the Epiphany, may each of you, my dear blog friends, carry the spirit of Christmas in your hearts, and have a very blessed 2009.
3 comments:
Hi, just dropped by to visit. I just love traditions like this! Loved your words, blessings, Kathleen
I don't recall ever having heard "All Year Long". I love it.
Such wonderful memory.
Wasn't it wonderful to read Autum's posting today about Casey. Moved me to tears. So happy for her.
It must be very poignant for you to think about your father in church reciting this. It's a good lesson to me to keep Christmas in my heart all year long.
In answer to your question. I worship in various ways but something I've practiced for a long time is to make myself look for the Lord's beauty in this world and one way I do it is to give AT LEAST one heartfelt compliment to someone, whether I know them or not.
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