Maybe like me, you grew up singing It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. I know the first verse by heart and have sung this carol on doorsteps, church pews, and hospital hallways. But it took 28 years for me to find this third, and now favorite verse:
O ye beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.
Maybe like me, you grew up singing It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. I know the first verse by heart and have sung this carol on doorsteps, church pews, and hospital hallways. But it took 28 years for me to find this third, and now favorite verse:
O ye beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.
What a testament to the Hope of Christmas. A message for those in pain during this joyful season, acknowledgment that life is hard, encouragement that "glad and golden hours" are coming for us. A message that joy, beauty, and song is here; God's grace and peace surround us now; we just have to listen for the whisper of angels this Christmas Eve.
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