The Work of Christmas

This will be the last time I post until after the holidays. I hope that all of you will have a blessed and memorable time with your family and friends. May you have an opportunity to reflect on the joys and pains (and everything in between) of the past year and to be grateful for the one who humbled himself to birth in a barn with cows, donkeys, sheep, and poor shepherds as the only witnesses.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with the flocks,
then the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal those broken in spirit,
to feed the hungry,
to release the oppressed,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among all peoples,
to make a little music with the heart.

And to radiate the light of Christ,
every day, in every way,
in all that we do, all that we say.

Then the work of Christmas begins.

-Howard Thurman