The
late great African American theologian and mystic, Howard Thurman, wrote a book
called The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations. It is a devotional of
sorts in that it is a collection of meditations for the Christmas season.
Thurman incorporates the hope, the sense of celebration, love, compassion, and
blessing of the season into his writing and encourages us to find them
throughout the year. The following poem/meditation is titled, “Christmas is
Waiting to be Born.” May it be a source of meditation, inspiration, and call
for you in these last days before Christmas IS born!
Where
refugees seek deliverance that never comes
And
the heart consumes itself as if it would live,
Where
children age before their time
And
life wears down the edges of the mind,
Where
the old man sits with mind grown cold,
While
bones and sinew, blood and cell, go slowly down to death,
Where
fear companions each day's life,
And Perfect Love seems long delayed.
Christmas is waiting to be born: in you, in me, in all mankind.