Write Your Story.
As the day comes to an end and you climb into bed, are you happy with your story? Do you have positive or negative thoughts when you consider what has taken place? Are you happy or sad with your participation in 2020? Just like the end of a sentence, you can put a period on those as well. Each day, you can pick up your pen and begin to write your story again.
Just like the end of a sentence, you can put a period on those thoughts as well. Each day, you can pick up your pen, and begin to write your story again. Add a cup of coffee. 🙂
Are you happy or sad with your participation in 2020? Create and write your story using anything.
Our mistakes, or mistakes that cause us to lose something.
Anger rises within me when mistakes glare, mocking me with the loser card. (If you have problems dealing with that voice, read my post: Losing does not make you a loser.) As we create each day, we will come against huge barriers questioning our capability to accomplish the calling God has laid upon our hearts. This is part of writing our story. Story deals not only with technique and craft, but our very life. A true artist allows the reality of their life to be reflected in and through their art. When you create, does it reflect how you live?
Story behind “O Holy Night.”
My son, Peter, and I were listening to King and Country sing a beautiful rendition of “O Holy Night” during the Christmas season. The words are so worship-filled that I was convinced the story behind this song had to be one of beauty and wonder. I was so wrong.
During the research, I discovered it was a very bumpy ride for a gift used today so beautifully, but God was in charge.
A short example of the timeline for this story is as follows:
- The words were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847, This man “dealt with wine” and was also a poet. A ceremony was taking place on Christmas Eve and a priest, knowing Cappeau was a poet, requested something for the dedication. Even though Cappeau composed such beautiful words of worship, he later left the church to join the Socialist movement and became an atheist.
- Cappeau knew the poem needed a melody, so he asked a friend. What carries us to intense worship was written by a Jewish composer, Adolphe Adam. He was well known for his creative music abilities, but this man did not have a personal belief in the words or the day.
- As time went on, the church found grave fault with the song and forbade its use in the churches in France, but this did not keep the people from singing it outside the gatherings.
- In 1855, John Dwight Sullivan (an American minister) made a few changes and we have the present “O Holy Night.”
God Is In Charge
What a story! If the Church of France would have had its way, would the story of “O Holy Night” turned out differently? This wonderful song had no control over it surroundings, but God knew the plans for its story, You need to continue to write your story. God is in charge.
John Dwight Sullivan took the original French hymn and translated it into the song we sing today.
As you read over the chorus and third verse, can you see God’s love flowing? It does not matter how messy your life is as you write your story, trust God is in control. His Love comes through in the end.
He knows our need, to our weaknesses no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Write Your Story. Trust God to be in Control.
This sentence is much easier said than done, but our stories are on a path where we are not alone. God knows our needs during a crazy pandemic where masks are required and gatherings are small.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth as a little baby one holy night. The story of His life is not one imagined for the Son of God, yet Jesus continued daily to write his story. “His law is Love and His Gospel Is Peace.” Because Jesus was consistent in His story even though the words were not always beautiful, God was always in charge.
As you write your story, do you see pain, beauty, or wonder? The history of “O Holy Night” takes an adventure of its own. The words in this beautiful hymn take you to the stable of our Blessed Savior. Both stories are ones where God is in charge.
Wake each day, greeting God with pen in hand, ready to write your story. As you place the period at the last sentence, and you climb into bed with peace, trust God is in charge of the outcome.
Lyrics of the Hymn “O Holy Night” were taken from Christianity.Com
[…] your story was the topic of my last post. After reading it again, think about each of your days and ask, “who is really writing your […]