December 25, 2019 · from Lesley’s original CaringBridge journal
First of all, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!! I’m going to make this one short, I promise! You have goodies to eat, new clothes to try on, toys to assemble, and sweet little faces to watch!
Secondly, I’m tired folks. I mean worn….slap….out! Nine weeks of driving to and from Augusta every day, being gone from my house for five hours a day, and then trying to pack school, housework, office work, mothering, wifing, friending, taking care of my cancer patient body, and everything else into the few remaining hours has been exhausting. We are all tired as a matter of fact. While the hyperbaric treatment hasn’t been physically what chemo, radiation, and surgeries have been, the logistics of me doing it have worn on all of us. But thanks be to God we still seem to love each other and have made it to the finish line once again. My last treatment is tomorrow! Woo Hoo!!!
The other night I was watching a Christmas movie with the boys and “Oh Holy Night” was one of the songs. When it got to the verse “The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices….” I paused. That really resonated with me. I am weary. Very weary. This is a fallen world and navigating life in it makes us all weary. But there is hope – and the thrill of that hope can energize us to keep putting one foot in front of the other and plod (or even sometimes sprint) through it.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” I recently read this article about the story behind the song. It is based on the poem “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. To quote the article, “On Christmas day, 1863, Longfellow – a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been nearly paralyzed as his country fought a war against itself – wrote a poem seeking to capture the dynamic and dissonance in his own heart and the world he observes around him.” As the author of that article points out, the injustices of this world seem to mock the idea of being thrilled with hope – I mean, how could we be when we see human trafficking, homelessness, children going hungry, violence, cancer stealing life from those we love…..it is so hard to be hopeful sometimes. But we can be! Jesus is real and offers a real hope that we can rest in and be thrilled about. I will paste the lyrics below – if you are in a hurry, read the last two stanzas. “…Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will toward men….God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, The right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will toward men.” Let that soak in, let it encourage you where you are weary today. God bless you all, I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas!
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Christmas Bells” (1863)
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Comments from CaringBridge
Nancy Sullivan — 12/27/19
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Leslie! May the New Year bring peace, joy, rest and freedom from this horrid disease you have been battling !
Gerry Brooks — 12/25/19
And a very Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Cancermamma 