God With Us

As promised, I am sharing one of my favorite 'Christmas' songs. O' Come O' Come Emmanuel ,God with Us. The promise of the Savior in the Old Testament to the exiled nation of Israel and the fulfillment of this in Jesus, God's only begotten Son. I love the gospel message in this song. It speaks to all of us who were once exiled from God because of our sin. It speaks of freedom over death, of His safety as He leads us and the beginning of a beautiful saving relationship stated long ago on Mt. Sinai.

I love how sombre the tone of the melody is, all the while telling us to rejoice. Oh what a beautiful depiction of Israels history and the deliverance from all the world's sorrows.

As a lifelong believer, I have seen God work in my life and know even today He is with me. Praise Him!

Listen to this beautiful rendition... You may have to go on youtube to actually listen to it. It is worth it!

O come, O come, Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny From depths of Hell Thy people save And give them victory o'er the grave Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height, In ancient times did'st give the Law, In cloud, and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

You Better Watch Out

It's Christmas again and everyone is cheerful and full of warm, fuzzy feelings. A sweet Christmas song is blaring through the speaker, you sing along blinded by the cheerful demeanor of the melody until you realize the words escaping your mouth may be deceptive in their tune.

As a kid, singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town, brought you anticipation. As an adult whose reared a kid, you know this song is a warning!

Oh, He's Watching!

I'm not sure if Coots and Gillespie had a run in with their kids before writing this Christmas song for Eddie Cantor's Radio show in 1934 but life experience is usually fodder for musical genius. It was an instant hit. I suspect parents sighed in relation to the verbal threats and the kids dug the tune and it made everyone happy. Ahh, music, bringing people together since the beginning of time.

So next time your kid is acting out and you need a little relief, just grit your teeth, grin and bare it and remember the lyrics and sing them with gusto, you'll feel better. Your kid will get the message and back down the naughty meter and all will be well with your souls. At least you didn't have to lower the bar and tell them about Krampus to get them to behave.

I have a few more Christmas songs in the line-up that make you go HMMM! but I'll pick on those another year.

P.S. You will be proud of this Grinch. My Zumba instructor taught the class 2 new Christmas song dances today. One of which was a re-mix of, you guessed it, The Drummer Boy. I beat pretend drums for the squat move as I laughed inside. My heart did not grow any bigger after performing that feat but I did make it through my Christmas song 'bete noire' with grace.

I do have my Christmas Holiday FAVORITES (that make my heart grow)... I'll write about them too. Promise!