Merry Christmas 2022!
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Saturday, December 24, 2022
60 Years Ago
60 years ago,
my mama and daddy got married.
On Christmas Eve,
they said "I do"
so they could wake up together
to who they each always called
"their best Christmas gift ever!"
They had 54 years,
3 months,
1 week,
and 5 days
before my father's death.
I wish they could have had more.
What I wrote the first year after my dad died:
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
I Heard The Bells (Christmas Concert)
Sunday, December 11, 2022
Luke Shelton
with vocal and piano accompaniment
by
Allen Greene.
This was recorded at Luke's college's Christmas concert.
My phone did not record it.
This recording is from an older video camera
that I asked someone to record on as a backup.
I'm so glad I did or I wouldn't have gotten it at all!!!
I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing this song!
And I know I will never get tired of hearing my Luke sing!
Hope you enjoy it!
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Hope From "Hearing The Bells"
I didn’t remember the story behind the song,
“I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day”
until today.
I just knew I wanted to hear it.
My Luke sang this song with our church choir during the Christmas 2019 season.
I videoed it and put it on my youtube channel.
As of the time of this writing, it has 714 views.
I’m sure I’m a good percentage of those views.
So many times when I’ve needed hope,
I simply click on it and listen -
sometimes listening more than once.
Hearing it always makes me sigh with
joy, pride, and contentment at my Luke’s voice
and the words he and the choir are singing swell up in heart
and give me hope.
So, today, when I needed some hope
in the midst of a lot of disappointments,
I listened to the video.
And, once again, it did not disappoint.
The song reminds me that,
no matter what is going on
in my own little world,
my family’s world,
my community’s world,
and in the world at large,
there is always hope!
The song was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
on Christmas Day in 1863
(some sources said 1862 and some said 1864
but most said 1863).
His wife had died in 1861 so he was a widowed father of 6
and his soldier son was home recovering from a war injury.
He was himself in need of hope on that Christmas Day.
And then he heard the bells.
Bells that, as he wrote,
“pealed…more loud and deep”
that
“GOD IS NOT DEAD, NOR DOTH HE SLEEP
The wrong shall fail,
The right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Hearing those bells gave Henry Longfellow hope.
Hearing my son sing his words today gave me hope.
I’m posting my video of Luke and our church choir singing this song again
and, if you are walking through
some disappointments
or some grief
or some sorrow
or it’s just been a long day,
I pray you find hope as well!
Friday, December 2, 2022
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