A Preview from Daily Guideposts 2011

By Rick Hamlin, New York, NY

As appeared in

What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? (Psalm 116:12)

I was thrilled to be back at church, delighted to see so many friends after the rigors of hospitalization. The minister even announced that I was present. I rose to my feet, my hands in my pockets and a scarf wrapped around my neck to keep me warm, and received a round of applause. I waved to my cohorts in the balcony where for countless Christmas Eves I’d sung with the choir. It sounded like they were managing fine without me.

Sharing a hymnal with my son, I was having a little trouble singing. No doctor had warned me about this. They said it would take a while before I would be walking at a quick pace or running or going to the gym, but they didn’t tell me that my breath for singing would go wonky on every other note. I’d sing a phrase and then have to rest to sing the next one.

One venerable carol after another, and I was only half present, if that. Usually we like to divide parts as a family and harmonize together. Well, I was pretty useless. How can I celebrate Christmas if I can’t sing?

Then we came to one of my favorite carols, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and I wanted to throw down the book at the ugly croaking I was making. But there in the last verse was the message I needed to hear: “What can I give him, poor as I am?”

The answer from Christina Rossetti, the lyricist: “Give him my heart.” Nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t have to sing a stirring tenor descant from the loft. All I needed to do was love and be loved.

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