Lyrics
He braced that old ladder with all of his might, and shouted “Dad have no fear!”
As I stretched high to store the stockings and trim in the attic for another year.
We were busily packing our Christmas away, while singing a carol we knew,
When I heard my son in innocence inquire, “Do we store away Jesus too?”
All year long, we must worship day by day.
All year long, ‘tis the season to obey.
May the Christmas tree lights and the sleigh rides at night, remind us all to stay
In God’s presence all year long.
I smiled at my boy and again I explained, God’s longing to reconcile.
How he gave to the world the gift of new life, when his yearning became Mary’s child.
And though surrounded by all of man’s goods we embrace, his hope of that Bethlehem night.
We’ll never store his blessed gift away with the tinsel and coloured lights.
All year long, …
All year long, …
My Thoughts
I love listening to this song towards the end of the Christmas period, and often find myself humming it when I’m putting my own decorations away.
Sadly, there are those who put Jesus away with the Christmas decorations, and then pull him out the following December to place back in the manger scene, but if we do that, we’re missing out on the whole meaning of why he came. As the lyrics tell us, God’s longing in sending Jesus was to reconcile a sinful world to himself. And so, we can never store that gift away and just pull it out when it’s convenient to us.
I pray that we will worship Jesus every day, keeping him at the very centre of our lives. And I pray that if there are young people in our lives, we will encourage them to do the same, not just to think about Jesus at Christmas, or becoming so consumed by the things of this world that they squeeze him out of their lives.