Christmas Thoughts: Joseph's Lullaby

At church our pastor is teaching a series called Restoring Christmas.  We’ve only received the first message, but I’m already challenged and spurred on to see this season reflect the one whom we’re celebrating: Jesus!  I wanted to include here, on my blog, some of the thoughts and reflections both from these messages and just from embracing this season fully. 

 Last year, as I prepared for Christmas, I was also preparing to give birth to our firstborn, a son.  I felt so incredibly blessed to be able to feel what Mary must have felt as the days approached her due date.  (Ok, I know Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas day, but it represents when he was born.)  The emotions, the impatience, the discomfort, the joy at times, and sorrow at times, the preparation and anxiety about the birth, the myriad of feelings that every mom experiences in the final weeks and days of pregnancy. 

During those final days and weeks, I was also in seminary full-time (!) which meant driving 1.5 hours each day several days a week for class.  Jeff bought me Mercy Me’s Christmas CD, so I filled my drive time with Christmas tunes redone by one of my favorite bands.  One particular song will stick with me forever: Joseph’s Lullaby.  I would play that song, over and over and over, singing and crying.  I know that Dutch is not the Son of God, so of course the words don’t directly apply to Him, but He is a son of God, and I sensed, throughout my whole pregnancy that this little boy was somehow destined for greatness, that God already had His hand on Him for a special use, to spread the gospel and further God’s Kingdom. 

The song is sung by Joseph, and the power of the Words reflect a feeling every parent who desires their child to be used of God, can relate to.  I can only imagine what both Mary and Joseph must have felt, and the joy and the anguish, the honor and the sacrifice.  I taste only a tiny portion of it, and still feel engulfed by that same feeling.  The song goes like this …

 Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You’ll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

This past weekend Jeff pulled out the Mercy Me CD.  Now, my precious son is hardly a baby anymore, and certainly doesn’t want to be cuddled and held still.  But as this song played, I held him close to me and danced with him, singing the song that same way I sang it to him as a newborn, the same way I sang it to him before he was born.  I do know that the glory of Heaven lies in my arms–my son.  I do know that our children have a destiny, a calling, from God, and we as parents are to shepherd, train, and nurture our children to discover that destiny and fulfull that calling.  Even as I consider the shootings over the weekend, it’s scary to know that our precious children will be the ones standing up for Christ in a hostile world tomorrow.  Can we feel the weight of the glory of God?  Do we understand the price?  We must consider these questions.  But for today I’m so thankful that he’s just my child, my blond-haired blue-eyed baby boy who points and claps and dances whenever music comes on.  I’m so thankful for his round cheeks and pundgy feet and the way his thick lashes look laying down against his cheeks when he sleeps.  For now, dear child, sleep tight.