The Caregiver’s Christmas Song

Each year at Christmas time a different hymn has special meaning to me. It’s lyrics, it’s melody, it's new singer or composition. This year is O Holy Night, for this is a caregiver’s hymn. I have streamed 75+ different singers & groups perform it this past week. It acurately captures 3 tenets of caregiving.

But do you know it’s fascinating history? Have you read the actual poem that gave rise to this much-revised staple on our radios this time of year? Have you ever read it’s deep practical meanings? 

Three points from this hymn have special meaning for caregivers:

1) The heart of caregiving is the soul. The human soul feels it’s worth in Christ. Jesus says we possess nothing of value compared to our soul given to us at birth. And that if we should gain this entire world during our lifetime, we will still die bankrupts in hell if we do not have our soul’s worth found in Him. 

2) Your care receiver languishes in anguish. pines in pain, without you. Enslaved like a hidden brother/sister, we serve them through His law as love, and His gospel as peace. This is what we DO as caregivers--we bring love and peace. Without you, your care receiver would be dead, or at best, pining beneath the suffering of body & mind in this falling world. 

3) We serve the CHRIST inside our care receiver. This is the trick. He demonstrated for us, and now teaches us, to love one another. Let all oppression cease in his name. Let all within us praise his holy name, as our knees bow to HIS worth--through our care receiver. We serve the Ideal inside, if not the real outside.  

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