Pastor Devotion – “In the Bleak Midwinter”

By Pastor Mark Woodward

Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora)

I love to walk in the woods. I love to listen to the birds. I love to hear the wind blow through the trees.  I love the beauty and wonder of God’s Creation.

The other day I went for a walk and in a field near our house a deer was standing quietly in the grass. Off in the distance, snow covered the brown earth as winter crept ever closer. As I stood there, the deer and I looked at each other and soon the young doe trotted off into the brush. I was able to take her picture and it was a quiet, holy moment on that late November day.

We are now in the season of Advent – a time for getting ready of the coming birth of our Savior Jesus. This is a spiritual time of preparing and allowing our hearts to be open to all that the Holy Spirit does in our lives.  This is a time for renewal, recreation and to be reborn in our relationship with Jesus. Truly, this is a holy time.

Already, we are seeing and hearing the sights and sounds of the Advent and Christmas seasons. In my personal devotions I ran across a song of the season that  really  spoke to my heart — maybe it was because of the deer standing in the snowy field…

“In the Bleak Midwinter” written by Christina G. Rossetti in 1872, based in part on Luke 2: 8-14.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty,

Jesus Christ.

What can I give Him,

poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him:

give my heart.

As I stood there that wintery day, thinking about Advent and Christmas, I got to thinking about how I can again give me heart to Jesus. The words of Christina Rossetti’s hymn spoke to me as I watched the deer in the field. It was a holy moment.  So… during this Advent and Christmas time may we experince those holy moments and may we be born a new to a living hope know ing that “Jesus is the Light of the world and in him is no darkness at all!!” May this be a time for renewal, to be reborn as we share the Light of Jesus…

That was, for me, a holy moment watching the deer in the field as the cold wind of winter began to blow… and I asked myself again, “What  can I give Jesus?”  I will give him my heart.

May you have a blessed Advent and Christmas as we open our hearts to Jesus.

God’s Blessings Always,

Pastor Mark Woodward