It’s one of those days that doesn’t really feel like Christmas time. I’m cleaning the disaster zone that is my house right now, making plans for our next trip, and working on Pampered Chef orders. In other other words it’s just like any other day. Plus it’s gray outside, with a little bit of drizzle but still no snow. The kind of day that’s easy to feel dreary about. If not for the Christmas music on my iTunes it might even be a little depressing. Then something wafts up to my ear on a haunting melody. A woman’s voice sings pleads, “hold me together.”
I feel her questions sink in to me. “In a world as cold as stone, must I walk this road alone?”
Suddenly it’s not just a day of house chores. There’s a stirring of anticipation, a subtle reminder that during Advent even the most mundane carries with it a sense of purpose as we prepare the way for the coming of our Lord.
A young mother making a space for a child, travelers preparing for a distant journey, people everywhere deciding what best they can offer in celebration or homage, everything t connects us to billions of others, believers in every time and place, who pause to seek the divine in our daily tasks.
I do sometimes wonder, “If a wiser one should have had my place, but I offer all I am to the mercy of Your plan.”
These emotions are not sparkly, or bright, or festive, but on closer inspection they do feel a little bit like Christmas after all.
Rachel Spangler never set out to be an award winning author. She was just so poor and so easily bored during her college years that she had to come up with creative ways to entertain herself, and her first novel, Learning Curve, was born out of one such attempt. She was sincerely surprised when it was accepted for publication and even more shocked when it won the Golden Crown Literary Award for Debut Author. Since writing was turning out to be a real blast, Rachel decided to combine it with another passion and set her next romance on the ski slopes, and was absolutely stunned when her second novel, Trails Merge, won a Goldie in the category of Contemporary Romance. However, no amount of book signing or award winning can really change a Midwestern boi, and her third novel, the Goldie finalist The Long Way Home is just that, a return to the themes and settings that mean the most in Rachel’s life and writing. Her forthcoming novels include LoveLife (April 2011) and Spanish Heart (October 2011), both from Bold Strokes Books.
Rachel and her partner, Susan, are raising their young son in small-town western New York, where during the winter they all make the most of the lake effect snow on local ski slopes, and in summer they love to travel and watch their beloved St. Louis Cardinals.
Regardless of the season, Rachel always makes time for a good romance, whether she’s reading it, writing it, or living it.
Rachel can be found online at www.RachelSpangler.com as well as on Facebook.
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3 thoughts on “25 Songs of Christmas: Day 10 – Breath of Heaven”
You’ve totally hit on one of my favorite songs…not just during this season…but ALL TIME favorite songs. It’s just so powerful and speaks so plainly about devotion. No, I’m not perfect. Yes, I am scared out of my mind. But You have chosen me, Lord, and so I shall continue.
Thanks Rachel, for adding this song to your Songs of Christmas blog. I had never heard of it and it is hauntingly beautiful and packed with devotion. In a year that has been incredibly hard for me, this speaks to me and the faith to keep moving, to continue to grow and learn even when life is difficult.
Rachel Spangler 
You’ve totally hit on one of my favorite songs…not just during this season…but ALL TIME favorite songs. It’s just so powerful and speaks so plainly about devotion. No, I’m not perfect. Yes, I am scared out of my mind. But You have chosen me, Lord, and so I shall continue.
Thanks Rachel, for adding this song to your Songs of Christmas blog. I had never heard of it and it is hauntingly beautiful and packed with devotion. In a year that has been incredibly hard for me, this speaks to me and the faith to keep moving, to continue to grow and learn even when life is difficult.
There’s a great version on Grover Washington’s Christmas CD as well. I think it’s the best song Amy Grant has ever written.