'Thorns in the Straw' - Merry Christmas!

photo from 'The Nativity Story'

Hello friends and readers of 'Fullness of Joy'!

I had planned on posting earlier with my Christmas wishes to you all, but as it was, I was so taken up with the joys of celebrating with family that I've hardly found a wee moment to steal for  you friends through blogging (and e-mailing, just that you'd know seeing all the well-wishes I've received from some of you through that medium of communication)! I have a lot of photos and things to share of the Christmas season, but for now, I just want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas! I hope and pray you've all had a very blessed Christmas, remembering the wondrous birth of our dear and precious Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ! Christmas is such a blessed and joyous time! There are so many blessings and beautiful things in this Season: the love and time and joys/laughter spent with family, fun/goophy times with sisters and dear friends and the good/special moments with ones parents, singing joyfully favourite Christmas Carols, Christmas decorations, holidays, family movie nights, receiving and giving gifts, baking and cooking delicious treats, reading and writing in the wee hours of the evening (alas, I've done neither so far this month!), and oh, such enjoyable activities and delightfully fun moments with those we love best! 

However, the most wonderful and most awesome of all, above all these things, is our Lord Jesus Himself, God's only Son. The transcendent glory and hope of Christmas is this: that God became incarnate and was born as a baby, lived among us and suffered for and among us and died the cruelest death possible in our place and rose again victorious for our Hope and Redemption! He came to save us from our sins and purchase us unto Himself! What a glorious reason to celebrate! 

Without Him, there would be no joy this Christmas...

Without Him, there would be no Christmas at all to celebrate!

So...

Merry Christmas!

Because Christmas should remain in our hearts through not only the Advent of Christmas, but through the whole year, I thought it would be good to share this Christmas song with you. 'Tis by Christian composer Graham Kendrick and is one of my favourite modern Christmas songs told from the perspective of Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus. My sisters and I sang and played this last year at the Christmas Carol school service at a beautiful cathedral in our city which was such a blessing! I pray that you too will be blessed by the beautiful words and the music video recording, as we worship and adore the Child born in Bethlehem!

Thorns in the Straw 

Since the day the angel came

It seemed that everything had changed

The only certain thing

Was the Child that moved within

On the road that would not end

Winding down to Bethlehem

So far way from home.

Just a blanket on the floor 
Of a vacant cattle-stall
But there the Child was born
She held Him in her arms
And as she laid Him down to sleep
She wondered - will it always be
So bitter and so sweet

Chorus 
And did she see there
In the straw by His head a thorn
And did she smell myrrh
In the air on that starry night
And did she hear angels sing
Not so far away
Till at last the sun rose blood-red
In the morning sky

Then the words of ancient seers
Tumbled down the centuries...
A virgin shall conceive...
God with us... Prince of Peace
Man of Sorrows - strangest name
Oh Joseph, there it comes again
So bitter yet so sweet

Chorus
\
And as she watched Him through the years
Her joy was mingled with her tears
And she'd feel it all again
The glory, and the shame
And when the miracles began
She wondered, who is this Man
And where will this all end

'Til against a darkening sky
The Son she loved was lifted high
And with His dying breath
She heard Him say 'Father forgive'
And to the criminal beside
'Today-with me in Paradise'
So bitter yet so sweet.

Chorus

And did she see there
In the straw by His head a thorn
And did she smell myrrh
In the air on that starry night
And did she hear angels sing
Not so far away
Till at last the sun rose blood-red
In the morning sky


Words and Lyrics by 
Graham Kendrick

'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the  Father, full of grace and truth.'

John 1:14

P.S. I got to see 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' today! Lord willing, a review is coming soon :)