Joy: Day 10

Joy to the world! The Lord is come: let earth receive her king;

Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.

With “Joy to the world” in our hearts and minds, I invite you to join me in looking each of these twelve days of Christmas for instances of the joy that runs through all of creation, especially through experiencing the beauty and wonder of God’s world.

A light snowfall, just enough to cover everything, fell on Wednesday. Yesterday was cold and mostly cloudy, and where it was undisturbed by brooms or salt, the snow remained. Today the sun shone and the wind blew warm out of the southwest. By afternoon, water was running off of roofs and down slopes, and much of the snow was gone.

The snow had been light and had only been around two days, so the joy was not so much in seeing it melt as in hearing the sound of running water and remembering the words of Psalm 147, the Psalm appointed for last Sunday:

    17  You give snow like wool; *
          and scatter hoarfrost like ashes.

    18  You scatter your hail like bread crumbs; *
          who can stand against your cold?

    19  You send forth your word and melt them; *
          you blow with your wind, and the waters flow.

         (Saint Helena Psalter)

And there it was!

Joy to the world! The Savior reigns; let us our songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy.