{"id":4291,"date":"2024-12-20T13:35:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4291"},"modified":"2024-12-20T13:35:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:35:01","slug":"in-the-bleak-mid-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/20\/in-the-bleak-mid-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Bleak Mid-Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Are you searching for a simple, memorable, spiritual resolution for the new year \u2013 something calculated to help bring about a genuine transformation in your life?\u00a0

This weekend might be the perfect time to get started.\u00a0

We\u2019re talking specifically about Saturday, December 21. According to the ever-growing list of \u201cofficial national days,\u201d tomorrow is going to be something else.

December 21, for reasons that aren\u2019t immediately obvious, has been designated as National Fried Shrimp Day. It\u2019s also National Crossword Puzzle Day, National Flashlight Day, and Short Girl Appreciation Day \u2013 yet another opportunity to celebrate 4\u20198\u201d Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. \u00a0

Tomorrow is Maine Day, when all eyes turn toward the only US state with a one-syllable name. It\u2019s also Phileas Fogg Wins the Wager Day, since the hero of Jules Verne\u2019s novel Around the World in 80 Days <\/em>launches his epic journey on October 2 and thus has to reappear at his London club by December 21.

In 2014, a feisty fifth-grader named Shannon Barba of Tijeras, New Mexico, proposed the creation of Don\u2019t Make Your Bed Day.

Having made her bed every day since age four, she concluded it was acceptable every now and then to walk away from unkempt sheets and blankets. Interestingly, a research team from King\u2019s University in England has demonstrated that unmade beds may actually be a healthy option, since exposure to sunlight reduces moisture and helps curtail the growth of mites and bacteria.

And what day did Shannon suggest we not make our beds? She reasoned it should be December 21 \u2013 often the shortest day of the year \u2013 figuring that people are likely to spend the least amount of time out of bed.

Tomorrow is in fact the winter solstice, the 24-hour period in which the Northern Hemisphere annually experiences the fewest minutes of daylight. As the first official day of winter, darkness will gradually begin to yield to increasing light.

It\u2019s no accident that we celebrate the birth of Jesus just a few days later.\u00a0

In author Walker Percy\u2019s wonderful words:\u00a0It gets darker and darker, and then Jesus is born.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>

No one knows the precise date (not the day, the month, or even the year) that Mary and Joseph brought their child into the world in Bethlehem.\u00a0But early in church history, for a variety of interesting reasons, December 25 was earmarked as Jesus\u2019 nativity.

It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Christmas songs and carols \u2013 many of which originated in northern Europe \u2013 often reference falling snow and shivering shepherds, even though such meteorological effects were highly unlikely to have been part of Jesus\u2019 arrival.

One such song is In the Bleak Mid-Winter<\/em>, whose simple lyrics were submitted by English poet Christina Rossetti to Scribner\u2019s Monthly<\/em> magazine in 1872.

Thirty years later, the classical composer Gustav Holst (famous for his orchestral masterpiece The Planets<\/em>) crafted a humble melody. Lovers of Christ and Christmas have been moved ever since. Here are the familiar first and last verses:

In the bleak mid-winter<\/em>
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.<\/em>

What can I give Him,<\/em>
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give Him my heart.<\/em>

Enjoy this rendition by Audrey Assad, as arranged by Paul Cardall: In The Bleak Midwinter<\/a>

If we journey six months beyond the first day of winter, we arrive at the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. A few days after that, June 24, is the official \u201cnativity day\u201d of John the Baptist.

No one knows exactly when John was born, either. So how did his special day become associated with the beginning of summer?

It has to do with the fact that before Jesus came on the scene in ancient Judea, John was the hottest spiritual ticket in town.\u00a0His ministry was a public prelude to the arrival of the Messiah, and some of his followers wondered if John just might be that guy.

John himself was the first person to set them straight.\u00a0As soon as the real Messiah showed up, his work would begin to decline. Pointing to Jesus, John said, \u201cHe must increase, but I must decrease\u201d (John 3:30).\u00a0

That must have been crushing for John\u2019s loyal followers.\u00a0His disciples had hung on his every word.\u00a0As long as John was Number One, and they were seen in his company, their spiritual standing was sky high. But John made it clear that it was time for them to transfer their loyalty to Jesus, the one they had actually been waiting for.\u00a0 \u00a0

John knew his own gifts.\u00a0He knew his particular call.\u00a0He knew he was just an extra in God\u2019s full-length movie of the history of the world.\u00a0He wasn’t the star.\u00a0\u00a0

That\u2019s a pretty good working definition of humility.\u00a0

It\u2019s not that we think less and less of ourselves, but we think of ourselves less and less as we point the spotlight towards Christ. Thus Jesus\u2019 birthday is celebrated just after the darkest day of the year, in the certainty that things will now be getting lighter and lighter.\u00a0

And John\u2019s birthday is commemorated just after the longest day of the year, in the assurance that nothing can prevent summer days from becoming shorter and shorter.\u00a0

Returning to our original question: Are you searching for a simple, memorable, spiritual resolution for the new year \u2013 something calculated to help bring about a genuine transformation in your life? How about these six words:

He must increase; I must decrease.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>

What might that look like?

I will spend more time paying attention to God, and less time paying attention to myself. I\u2019ll invest more of my energy and resources pursuing the things of Christ, and less energy and resources padding my own list of things to do. I\u2019ll commit more minutes diving into God\u2019s Word in 2025 and fewer minutes mindlessly browsing entertainment options. Above all, I\u2019ll ask someone else to hold me accountable to actually keeping these promises.

Can that really happen? Of course it can.

It can even begin on the winter solstice.

May such resolves become our way of life this Christmas, even as we march toward the ever-nearing warmth and light of spring.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Are you searching for a simple, memorable, spiritual resolution for the new year \u2013 something calculated to help bring about a genuine transformation in your life?\u00a0 This weekend might be the perfect time to get started.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking specifically about Saturday, December 21. According to the ever-growing list of \u201cofficial national… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,845,844],"class_list":["post-4291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas-carols","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-winter-solstice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4293,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions\/4293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}