Mark Twain wrote some funny stuff, but there were times in his life—especially toward the end—when he was not a happy man. In his autobiography, he contemplated death and what happens to people when they die. His conclusion? “They vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness.”
Wow, Mr. Twain, how about a little hope here? Some small inkling that these lives of ours are meaningful and worthwhile?
It must be awful to harbor such thoughts. To tell you the truth, though, I might just think the same way—especially when it comes to my own life—if it weren’t for one thing:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
I love those words! I love singing “O Holy Night” when the Christmas season rolls around. Actually, I find myself humming this carol and thinking about this verse throughout the year. It tells me that if we were creatures of no consequence, God wouldn’t have bothered to wrap himself up in skin and come into the world to save us.
But He came. For love’s sake.
Now that’s the thrill of hope I’m looking for, and the hope I believe in.
Christ is born! Merry Christmas!
What Christmas carol is your favorite, and why?
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Hi Anne,
“O Holy Night” is my favorite carol as well and the one and only song I really know how to play on the piano. Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
A very merry Christmas to you as well, Jen! Wish I could hear you play “O Holy Night”!
I have always loved O Come All Ye Faithful. It’s just such a call to believers. I wrote the Christmas plays for our church’s Sunday school for years and we almost always marched into the church to that song.
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Joyful and triumphant
Oh come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him
Born the King of Angels
Oh come let us adore Him
Oh come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
I just love it.
“O Holy Night” is my favorite carol, too, especially when it gets to the “fall on your knees” part. How can you not feel that?
You know, Twain was often a funny and insightful man, but there was a streak of bitterness in his writing that is sometimes a bit hard to take.
Mary, whenever I pass by the Nativity scene here in our home, those are the words that come to mind: O come let us adore Him!
Deanna, I agree about Twain. Really, it’s sad. Such a great sense of humor but so much anger and bitterness. I might be the same way, if not for the One we fall on our knees to adore!
The First Noel is one of my favorite carols, and Silent Night it reminds you of the reason for the Christmas season.