THE LITTLE TOWN INSIDE

"Follow that Star", oil,
Roxanne Steed

These days, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” is a much- loved song, and this morning it made me think about a “little town” I have inside me. In the song, the town is described as being “still” and “silent” as it waited to receive the good news of the birth of Jesus, and I sometimes have to be still and silent as I await the arrival of feelings like hopefulness and confidence. When, as happens occasionally to all of us, my life seems dark like the skies over Bethlehem, I sometimes have to simply sit in stillness, deep inside, hoping that a little light will shine somewhere, like a star over a stable. Not much good news is given in the midst of clamor and uproar, but if I can settle myself into a sort of hushed state of readiness, like little Bethlehem in the song, I often see something utterly fresh enter my life – something like a new birth, something like the beginning, again, of serenity and understanding.