Most of us have heard the story of how the beloved Christmas carol, Silent Night, was written. It was December 24, in Oberndorf, Austria and the church organ wasn’t working. Father Joseph Mohr was obviously concerned as this problem would clearly effect the music for the Christmas Eve service. He quickly wrote the words to Silent Night and handed the text to his organist, Franz Gruber, who composed the simple tune that is now my favorite Christmas carol.
I have heard the story of Silent Night many times, but what I’ve missed came to my attention tonight as I was reading the story in the Women of Faith magazine. In Father Joseph’s mind he had a huge problem. Sure, Christmas would have still happened, people would have still been able to worship, and the world would have gone on without the organ music that night. But God wanted to show up for, what some might consider, a seemingly unimportant issue. How cool is that?
Do we even take notice when God does that in our own lives? We have a problem that seems huge to us and God shows up and works it all out. We may think we solved the issue ourselves, or with the help of a friend, but did we really or did we just allow God to work through us?
I’m going to make it my goal to start looking more closely for God’s working in my life this coming year. We all have problems that God can use as an opportunity to do great and marvelous things. I have a friend who, one year, made it a point to write down what God did in her life each day. She was amazed at the results as God worked each day. My prayer for 2008 is “Amaze me, God.” Won’t you join me in that prayer?