December 11

“Awake, Awake and Greet the New Morn”

4. Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night,

though cold the winter and cheerless,

the rising sun shall crown you with light,

be strong and loving and fearless;

Love be our song and love our prayer,

and love, our endless story,

may God fill every day we share,

and bring us at last into glory.

The first Christmas we were married, we invited friends to our little studio apartment to help decorate home-baked ornaments. It’s amazing how many we still have intact and how unattractive some are! That began our collection and adorned our live five-foot pine tree that year. That same pine tree was planted in my parent’s yard in Ohio and is now almost 40 feet tall!  So many metaphors can be made between our burgeoning of fearless new love, the tree of growth, the endless story we share.