There is something about the night the Savior was born... the Christmas story... that first captures my imagination, and then transports me to that place and time. I have had some very sacred moments as I have studied and prayed to create Christmas music. Heavenly Father sent a Savior to provide us with an Atonement. But he didn't send him fully grown, clothed in power and glory. Instead, he sent him as a tiny baby, in the most humble of circumstances. I love to think of angels and shepherds together in a crude stable to see the baby Jesus. In an earlier post today, I found some humor in childbirth. I am grateful that there is
some to be found there. But then the baby arrives, and it is profoundly moving to feel that powerful love you didn't even know was possible. So there, in Bethlehem, was a convergence of earthly, primal love for a tiny newborn baby, dirty and coarse surroundings, blood and pain...alongside heavenly visitors, a bright new star directly overhead, and in the center, the perfect only begotten son of a loving Heavenly Father: the most precious gift He could send, not just for Mary and Joseph's generation, but for every generation that ever did, or ever will, live on the earth. What story could be more compelling? This is a song I wrote a couple of years ago called "Mary, May I Hold Your Little Baby?" sung by Karen Lake.Per request, the words:
Mary, may I hold your little baby?
Let me rock him while you sleep awhile;
I will keep him safe from harm.
Wrap my poor cloak around your shoulders;
I know that it is worn and old, but at least it will be warm.
{chorus}
Rest, now; when you wake I will still be here
Kneeling at the manger bed,
Watching o’er your little baby dear.
Mary, I heard you sing to your little one.
Even angels and shepherds wept at your lullaby to God’s holy son.
Mary, may I hold your little baby?
I believe that when he fills my arms,
My heart will be full too.
I know that you must be so weary.
There was not an inn in Bethlehem
That would take you for the night.
I came to see the little Savior.
I felt the Spirit whispering to come and feel his light.
{chorus}
Prophets have waited for a new star
To shine up in the heavens
To guide them to their King.
Look how it shines upon the stable,
Bringing rich and poor to worship him;
See the wondrous gifts they bring.
{chorus}
Rest, now; when you wake I will still be here
Kneeling at the manger bed,
Watching o’er your little baby dear.
Mary, I heard you sing to your little one.
Even angels and shepherds wept at your lullaby to God’s holy son.
Mary, may I hold your little baby?
I believe that when he fills my arms,
My heart will be full too.
3 comments:
Can you post the words to your songs, too?
Great song.
I like to think about what we were doing when Christ was born.
We had to have been celebrating his birth up in heaven. We were probably sad that he had left us who weren't ready to come to earth yet, but can you imagine the party we must have had?
And some of us actually got to go down to earth and sing in the sky,
you know, the ones "heard on high"?
We were those angels who were rejoicing and calling out glad tidings.
I often wonder what Mary's labor was like. Did God give her an easy labor because she was giving birth to the greatest man to live on the earth? Or was her pain part of the necessary sacrifice to bring him here?
Did Joseph deliver the baby and cut the cord? What were his apgar scores?
I mean, I know that's kind of silly, but did the savior have any birth compilcations, (besides the obvious born in a stable situation)?
What an amazing night, and thank you for the song.
Oh, and in answer to your question on my blog, I was a labor and delivery scrub tech about 10 years ago. (Wow, that's so long). It was an awesome job. Talk about being surrounded by miracles. I did that for almost 3 years, but quit to stay home when my own baby was born.
I had wanted to be an L&D nurse since I was 2. I thought that would be my lifelong career. Instead I fulfilled my dream by the age of 18 and a few years later moved on to what God really had in mind for me, which is working with troubled kids.
My husband and I have lived and worked in 3 different group homes, and now have the best job ever, as specialized foster parents.
We have 3 high need foster sons, (in addition to our biological 2), and they are our full time job.
So I'm not only a stay at home mom, (which is one of the greatest and hardest jobs there is) I am technically a professional parent.
It's amazing, and I'm still surrounded by miracles.
But I do miss L&D every now and then.
-Della
OK...I have posted the words to each the songs I have written. It gives new meaning to "Quantity not quality." Like my posts weren't wordy enough as it was. If I were smart I could figure out how to have just the title there, and if you click on it it will expand or collapse the words... hmmm. I actually thought I WAS smart, but this one is beyond me. I will have to think on it.
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