By: Leo Lawton
November 14, 1998
Our baby was born in the summer,
she was three months old in the fall,
then came the cold days of winter,
and suddenly I lost it all.
My wife grew weak and withered,
like a small shrunken grape on a vine,
then one day she was no longer with me,
and I thought that I’d lose my mind.
My babe could no longer suckle,
at her mother’s ever ready breast,
and it wasn’t so very much longer,
until she found her eternal rest.
The barn burned the day before Christmas,
I thought that I’d lost everything,
then came the next mournful morning,
when I heard the old church bells ring.
They seemed to beckon me onward,
as I walked slowly up to the door,
for too many long long years,
I hadn’t stepped onto that floor.
As I slowly walked through the portals,
of this most reverential place,
a great calmness overcame me,
and I slightly quickened my pace.
I turned and looked all around me,
as if asking, do I belong here,
and a voice spoke as if from Heaven,
you have nothing to fear.
Please enter and be seated,
we are about to begin,
and the choir voices lifted,
as they began a hymm.
I sat on the edge of a pew near the door,
ready to jump up and run,
in case something should happen,
or someone should begin poking fun.
At the long lost sinner in the back row,
who never came to pray,
but no snicker did I ever hear,
on that beautiful Christmas day.
The days went by and turned to weeks,
the hurt never went away,
but even then it lessened some,
with every passing day.
So let me tell you, passing friend,
when you think you’ve lost everything,
listen on Sunday morning,
and hear those church bells ring.
Follow them ever onward,
and walk in through the door,
you’ll find the peace within your heart,
that you’ve been searching for.