One of the hardest things to do

(harder than anything you could go through yourself)

...trusting God with someone you love

especially (although the best), when that is the only thing left for you to do for them.

___________

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

-C.S. Lewis

“Sobbing with tears,

sobbing without tears,

tears without sobbing,

smiles with tears.

Numb.

Welcome to the ministry of love.” 
-John Piper 

“I have held many things in my hands,
and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess.” 
-Martin Luther 

"Bear not a single care thyself,

One is too much for thee.

The work is mine, and mine alone,

And thine is...

Trust in Me.” 

-Unknown

"A battered reed He will not break off,

and a smoldering wick He will not put out" 
-Matthew 12:20

♫

in·car·nate, adj. a) Invested with flesh {What an investment.}

 "Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God

that man might stand before Him as He was created to do,

the friend and lover of God Himself."

~ Oswald Chambers

A Christmas Poem

"In this smelly place he lay,
Smelly like the swine,
Smelly like the rotting hay,
Like your sin, and mine.
Do you see how low he lay?
Do you see how low?
There is lower yet to go.
Lower yet to go.

He is lying where they eat,
Lying where the swine—
Lying like a piece of meat
Where the hungry dine.
Do you see the flow complete
Do you see the flow?
There is greater love to show
Greater love to show.

Such a happy toddler there,
Happy like the birds,
Happy like the morning air
Filled with happy words.
Does he see or know or care?
Does he see or know:
O, how deep will be his woe
Deep will be his woe?

Knowing God was born like this
Knowing this is he,
Knowing somehow this is bliss
For the swine and me,
Is this love's full glow and kiss?
Is this love’s full glow?
There are deeper things to know,
Deeper things to know.

Mary musing every year,
Musing on her son,
Musing with a rising fear
Who will be the one:
Who will strike the blow and spear?
Who will strike the blow?
Does she know that blood must flow?
Know that blood must flow?

Jesus hanging on the tree,
Hanging like the meat,
Hanging there for swine like me,
Gives his flesh to eat.
Here is Life brought low and free.
Here is Life brought low.
O, how vast the debt I owe
Vast the debt I owe."  

~  John Piper

DesiringGod

The Mocking of The Christmas Bells

1860 - Henry was at the peak of his success as a poet. Abraham Lincoln had just been elected President, giving hope to many.

1861 - But things soon turned dark for America and for him personally. The Civil War began, and Henry’s wife died in a tragic accident in their home. He suffered severe burns on his hands and face while trying to save his wife. He was so badly burned that he could not even attend her funeral. In his diary for Christmas Day 1861, he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays."

1862 - A year after her death, he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace." Christmas day - the toll of war began to mount, and in his diary for that year Henry wrote, "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."

1863 -  Henry received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded with a bullet passing under his shoulder blades and taking off one of the spinal processes. There is no entry in Henry's diary for that Christmas.

1864 - Christmas day. He wrote the words of the poem ‘Christmas Bells'.

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

'There is no peace on earth,' I said;

'For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!'

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!'"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sources:   1    2    3

{righteousness} Not learned by favor.

"My soul yearns for You in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks You.

For when Your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

If favor is shown to the [one guilty of sin],

he does not learn righteousness...

he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

O Lord, in distress they sought You;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when Your discipline was upon them."

Isaiah 26:9-10,16