I like to pick up a new picture book at Christmas time, and this year I happened to see Room for a Little One (Book #55, by Martin Waddell) at a denominational office. It's charming and vivid and simple and short, a story about the cow inviting animals into the barn, and ultimately Mary and Joseph. I used it with the children last Sunday, after which we sang "Jesus, Our Brother, Strong and Good," an absolute favorite of mine. My friend, RevFun, wrote a verse about Molly two Christmases ago. She came to church last Sunday, and we added her verse to the carol.
"I," said the dog, brown, black and white,
I guarded his family all through the night.
I kept them safe till the morning light.
I," said the dog, brown, black and white.
Molly seemed to enjoy it. I know I did.
Throughout Advent, I've appreciated Run, Shepherds, Run: Poems for Advent and Christmas (Book #56, edited by L. WIlliam Countryman). Just tonight I read a poem that touched a tender place for me.
In Memoriam XVIII ~ Alfred Tennyson
I'm grateful to writers this year, writers who have amused me, made the time go by when I couldn't do much with my free time due to ill health, writers who shared their experiences, in fact and in fiction. Tennyson's pain may not be like mine, unless it is since I have been grieving for the life I believed I would have before the RA diagnosis. Now, many months later, I still don't really know what the new life will be like, but I am hearing the bells, too, and finding different joys in them.
That’s a wonderful poem.
And Smokey thinks it is very cool that Molly has her own verse in a song.
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Pain and loss and illness are cause for grief.
We give thanks for different joys…
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Dear friend, I pray for you a decrease in– a release from– this pain, and peace all the while.
Love.
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prayers for you….thanks for sharing the poem…
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thanks for sharing those books. I also saw “room for a little one” in the store, and almost picked it up.
Do you know, “Welcome to our house”? Another book like that… also makes a good sermon title…
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I remember my mom singing “The Friendly Beasts” to me when I was little, holding me in her lap.
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