Dear Daughters,
Last night we hosted a sing-along at our home. We invited people to simply come and join us in sharing some Christmas music. We had local friends, dark-skinned and light, with their guitar and ukulele, a few relatives, our neighbors down the lane – about 20 in all – a good variety of old friends and new. Grandma and I have been practicing for weeks our Christmas songs on the piano. Sometimes Grandma morphs from Go, Tell it On the Mountain into Jesus Loves the Little Children; other times she plays the verse of one song flowing seamlessly into the chorus of another, but most of the time is able to end on the same song she started. 
There were no gifts given except that of sharing music together. After we caroled many Christmas songs, Susan and her friends taught us a new song:
Nothing behind, nothing before, the steps of faith,
Fall on the seeming void, and find The Rock beneath.
We listened to our friends sing the song then joined along with them. After that we sang it as a 3-part round. It was beautiful as we all sang our parts, hearing the lovely harmony weaving in and out. Next Susan asked us if we had any stories of our walks of faith that we were willing to share with the group. We heard some stories of people coming to Idaho from New York, New Zealand, Michigan, California, Arizona, the Netherlands – all of us stepping out in faith, going where God had called us to go. All of us had journeyed many miles, sometimes not knowing what lay before us, but simply being obedient to God’s call on our lives. 
I knew the stories of many of these people and the suffering they have endured. Yet here we were, singing with joy on our faces and in our hearts, thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and the Rock he has been in all of our lives.
It’s interesting that the people who have been through hard things in life often seem to be the most joyful. I had heard the quote by Richard Nixon:
Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain,
and I have found that it’s true. Of course you have to pin that beast of bitterness and ingratitude to the floor, give thanks and fight for joy, it doesn’t just fall on you. There are those who have suffered and choose to stay in that prison of bondage. But the good news that Jesus brought to us thousands of years ago is that there is freedom – freedom from hurt, abuse, neglect, and broken hearts. 
My friend, Marcia, posted the following prayer a while back and I think it’s profoundly beautiful. It’s not your typical prayer of blessing, but a prayer that comes from knowing real blessings can only come through hardship, adversity and the perseverance that results.
I pray this prayer for each of you, my daughters, because I know this is a prayer that God will answer in a most creative way for each of you. I am certain He will answer in His exquisite wisdom and timing.
A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God’s creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor.
Amen.
Even though we will be far from all of you this Christmas, you are closer than ever in my heart, mind and soul. I will miss you and your families greatly, but know that God will bless you now and in the years to come…until we meet again.
Love, Mom
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