ALLSWELL
Christ IS come
2012.12.18 Charlene DiFonzo Holmes
Back-in-the-day, before eight track players, during the Christmas season-- my oldest brother, Tom, would put up a small Christmas tree with multi-color lights in our rec room. In the corner of the narrow and dim paneled room was a turntable where he would have Christmas albums. In the opposite corner was his “Bob Cratchit” desk, tiny, one drawer and three open shelves along the right side. It was here that he labored over his college courses, hour after long hour under the only bright light in the room. My brother, Don, who also studied in the rec room took a different approach. He stretched out on the couch, his favorite position was generally on his back using his nose as a book mark . . .
Tom graduated. 😁😉
(lol, for the record, all my brothers are successful)
On the occasions when there wasn’t all that studying going on, I’d make my way down the 10 steps to be alone and listen to the holiday music-- Perry Como singing soulfully, Ave Maria in Latin, Faith of our Fathers and The Little Drummer Boy. I would lay on the “study” couch, staring at the wee tree propped up on a table and just feel-- It opened me to the rest of my soul. I was visiting a part of me that didn’t make many appearances during the course of the other 11 months. Thirty-eight years later the music of Christmas continues to move me to a deeper place.
Recently I was told about a unique chap, a modern day Jeremiah Johnson (mountain man), living in a cabin in the mountains out west. This new Dad played midwife on the floor of their cabin and delivered his bundle of 8+ pounds of joy, a son. The birth was not without its moments of concern. Afterward, Dad stepped out of the cabin to reflect and with a heart heavy with gratitude he settled on his name . . . Allswell (as in- “All is well”).
I was struck by the profoundness of that part of his name. I found it to be so moving. A baby came into this world and to his Daddy it meant: In this moment, all’s well in the world or in my life because he is healthy. It could be, in that moment-- the profound miracle of a birth, enveloped by the experience of using his own hands to assist in birthing his flesh into the world, would move most of us to say in our hearts, All IS Well. I really haven’t a clue as to the Dad’s exacts thoughts, but this fresh and untried Dad had reasoned in an enlightened direction . . .
A few days later, my family and I were decorating our tree. As we were strategically placing the ornaments, Christmas music was playing and I heard Michael W. Smith’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-LEVmxL5Y8
All is well, all is well;
Angels and men rejoice. For tonight darkness fell; Into the dawn of LOVES Light
Sing A-le, Sing Alleluia
All is well, all is well;
Let there be peace on earth. Christ is come, go and tell; That He is in the manger
Sing A-le, Sing Alleluia
All is well, All is well;
Lift up your voice and sing. Born is now Emmanuel; Born is our Lord and Savior
Sing Alleluia, Sing Alleluia
Those lyrics caused tears to spring up. Remembering baby Allswell, the message of the lyrics moved my spirit. I was being reminded that in spite of what is happening, that beyond our three dimensional vision, lies the reality-- all IS well. At the sound of the melody and the angelic voices, something ethereal called to me. Like a river passing through me, connections began to push there way into my mind . . .
When God’s “Allswell” was born, He too was birthed in an unconventional way for His time. On the floor of a stone barn.
When God’s “Allswell” was born, He too was most likely birthed with the assistance of His earthly Dad.
When God’s “Allswell” was born, Friends and family didn’t show up to welcome him, but a small group of stunned, disheveled and smelly shepherds came to worship.
When God’s “Allswell” was born, His arrival wasn’t acknowledged by the surrounding beauty of nature, but by a flying Host of Angels, splitting open the night sky with the blazing light of a static bolt of lightning.
When God’s “Allswell” was born, He didn’t just bring light into the hearts of His Mom and Dad but as Max Lucado said, “Since He could bare your sins more easily than He could bare the thought of your hopelessness, He chose to leave; and He chose to bring light into YOUR world.”
All’s well. If it is, why do I feel so sad? “Why so downcast, Oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me”. Why am I filled with this melancholy? My eyes fill with tears. The music moves my spirit but my soul reminds me of all that is NOT well. There are days, like today, when I feel the pain of this journey. My knowledge of wounds, illnesses, difficulties experienced in the past, those that are current and the future possibilities should keep me under my covers and sear my heart . . . but it doesn’t. My spirit knows the hope that supersedes the sorrows of the soul, the sorrow of this earthly journey and the wounds that distort our views, whether they are perpetrated upon us or self inflicted by poor life decisions. My Savior is come-- all IS well. He came and “…darkness fell into the dawn of Love’s Light” (what beautiful insightful lyrics!)
I rejoice today-- for my goal is not the things of this world we scrape and claw to possess, but it’s to allow my heart to be drawn nearer to the Designer and Creator of us all. I want to stand on a roof top and shout, “All's well, this world is fading but the next one is brighter and will never fade. In that place we won’t shed tears or be filled with angst or anger for those who are gone, or suffering, or experience the frustration of being helpless at the injustices of this journey. All Is Well!”
At baby Allswell’s conception, our’s too, a portal of eternity was created, and his birth name was a reminder of that immortality. All IS well--we are eternal beings and when God’s Son put on human skin, becoming Emmanuel, and was birthed in an animal cave, instantly All became well. Darkness fell when the “...dawn of Lights Love...” rose over the horizon of sin’s darkest shadows.
Sometimes, it is easy to say. Most times, it is hard to believe . . . But the reality?
All IS Well!
Christ IS come
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger
who announces the good news, “All is well.”
He brings the good news,
announces salvation,
and tells Zion that its God rules as king.
Isaiah 52:7
Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with joy and peace.
the HOLMES
