The Work Begins

Remember the song I quoted the other day?

After everyone leaves...after the excitement of a new baby settles down...the true work begins.  

"To find the lost, the heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to make peace among brothers, and to make music from the heart."

I was walking around, getting ready this morning and had an epiphany...yeah, that's a Christmas miracle on Thursday of the week before Christmas.  I have a cold...I mean it's bound to happen this time of year with sniffling children who hug me face to face...and I didn't feel awesome yesterday, but we promised to go with the kids from church to sing at an assisted living home.  So, we had little people choir and then headed over there.  We sang and it was nice and they were appreciative and then we headed to the other section of the facility to "the bridge."  The Bridge is for alzheimer's patients.  So we walked in and there were about 15-20 people in a circle with one nurse.  We started singing and I almost lost it.  Some of them that hadn't spoken a word, even looked like they were asleep, perked up, sang every word, and one even read every word off of the song sheet and sang in his loudest, best voice.  We walked around after we sang and they held my hand, commented how warm I was (wonder why? ha), and said, "it's so good to see you."  They were happy, even for those moments.

Here's the epiphany I had this morning...we did the work of "releasing the prisoner" last night.  The people we sang with are in a prison of the mind.  Most of the time they are locked up in the past and can't make peace with the present. In those few carols, I saw their eyes open, their minds clear, and their spirits refreshed.

Thank you, Lord, that you use us in spite of ourselves. Thank you for reminding me that I have something to give and that there is more work to do.