Songs of The Season: While You Were Sleeping.

It's a rainy Monday here in Florida.  The weather has gradually gotten cooler since this morning, and the precipitation has remained a constant drizzle since last night.  Normally I love the rain - I would gladly take gloomy, cloudy days over sunshine almost any day.  But today?  Not so much.  I'm not sure why today is any different, but it is. 

A couple weeks ago, our pastor's sermon was about Christmas, but not in the way you might imagine.  He didn't speak of shepherds watching their flocks by night, or the three wisemen traveling from afar.  Nor did he speak of the tiny Baby in a manger, or the star over Bethlehem.  Instead his message leaned more toward our need, as a society, for stuff.  We thrive on stuff.  We want stuff.  We buy stuff.  We accumulate so much stuff that we have to get rid of that stuff in order to make room for new stuff.  Stuff, stuff, stuff.  When is enough stuff enough?  Why do we continually try to fill a void - spiritual, emotional, psychological - with stuff?  We're all guilty of it in some way, at some point.

After hearing those words, I haven't looked at people or stuff the same way.  My drive to Christmas shop is somehow tainted.  I look around and see sad faces that reflect empty lives and hurting hearts.  I sometimes wonder where the hope is for these people, but at the same time I wonder when some of them will reach out to the Hope that has been there all along. 

Today's song somehow fits.  I get choked up every time I hear it.  But through the emotions, the words always make me stop and think.  Such a powerful message for a world of hurting people.