What a gorgeous few weeks we have enjoyed!  That wet, heavy snow has clung to the trees making Cadillac a winter wonderland.  It has been the stuff of postcards and paintings by Currier and Ives.  The scenic landscape has been enough to almost make winter tolerable (emphasis on “almost”).  This I know: regardless of how irregular 2020 has been, it sure looks like a regular Northern Michigan Christmas out my window. 

            But that beauty from the wet, heavy snow has not come without consequence.  Numerous trees have experienced broken limbs or have fallen altogether.  In our own neighborhood (Shout out to Whitetail Drive!) the thinner and weaker trees have been bent low, even creating hazards on the road.  Soon after the snow fell, my wife Christy thought it her personal mission to shake the snow off these trees that were hindering our neighborhood travel and release them from their icy bondage.  (I stayed in the warm car and watched). 

            The image of those vulnerable trees bent over under the heavy load of snow reminded me of a line in the Christmas carol “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”  The lyric reads:  “And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, Whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing way, With painful steps and slow…”  Anybody relate?  It’s like that old psychological question:  “If you were a tree, what kind would you be?”  For many of us the answer is easy:  a bent one!  Especially in this past year, so many of us have felt life’s crushing load which has bent us low.  Our steps have indeed been painful and slow as we have toiled along the climbing way.  The sentiment of the carol has never seemed more true than today. 

            But fortunately, the carol doesn’t end with subjects hopeless under life’s heavy load.  The verse goes on to say: “Look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing.  O rest beside the weary road, And hear the angels sing!”  Much as my wife removed the heavy load of wet snow from those bent trees, allowing them to spring back to life, so Jesus came to earth to bear your heavy load—most notably your heavy load of guilt and sin.  And for those who put their trust in Him alone as Savior and Lord, He walks with them as a constant companion and load bearer. 

            As we bring conclusion to this Christmas season, the month of December, and the heavy year 2020, do you find yourself bending low beneath life’s crushing load?  The Good News of the season is that we have not been left alone.  Jesus came to earth in the flesh to set us free and to allow us to rest beside this weary road.  May you enter His peaceful rest and experience the blessing of the freedom that He alone can bring.