Another year has sped past and in the midst of all the rancour and strife, as always, there has been light in the darkness. Rather than going on one of my rants, I think it’s better for me to dwell on all the good that the year has brought so many of us, and to sympathise with all who have faced loss this year. And still, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. So, happy birthday to the person who rescues us from living in a world without hope, Jesus Christ. I can’t think of a way of putting the sentiments of the season better than the Edmund. H. Sears hymn, so here goes:

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold!
Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heaven’s all gracious King!
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing.
And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When, with the ever-circling years,
Shall come the Age of Gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And all the world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

AlaraApothecary: we’re all about the love. Merry Christmas to you all.