If We Are Still, We Can Hear Them

​Hospitals scare me. They always have. But when you're roaming the halls of one looking for your firstborn, the fear seems to subside. Or at least hides for just a bit.

So, I fearlessly followed the signs and arrows on the walls and through the halls.

NICU.

NICU.

Until I was there. NICU.

An older nurse recognized my wayward demeanor, as if not her first encounter with the wayward. My son is here, I told her. They flew him here from Morehead City. But I don't know where he is.

I know where he is, she assured me. And oh, by the way, she said, as if recognizing I needed an answer, that little baby is going to be just fine.

No more fear. Not subsided or hidden. Gone.

And there he was. I looked down at this child, my child in an incubator, no more than 12 hours old. His eyes wide open met mine. A feeling came over me that had never come over me before.

It has indeed never come over me again.

And as if a God was with me - a God I didn't know terribly well in that moment - a God who somehow recognized I needed answer: what is this feeling?

And as if a God was with me, there came an unknown voice. And it said, "this feeling you have in this moment, it is the feeling I have for you every second of your life."

I did not imagine that voice. I heard it. As if you who read this now would pick up a phone and call me and I would hear your voice, that is how I heard this voice.

That is why, when I read the following words on the way to Bethlehem, I know they are true.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

There are some who read that part of the Christmas story and maybe wonder, possibly even deny the feasibility of it, did those shepherds really hear the angel's voice?

I am not one who wonders.

Those shepherds heard it.

And the bible goes on to tell us:

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Can a voice really call out from on high, call us through hilly terrains, over rocky outcroppings, down hospital hallways, to find a baby?

A baby in an incubator.

A baby in a manger.

I am here to assure you that voice can. And does. And will.

But to who? Who does that voice call out to? Who gets to hear it?

The humble shepherds.

The wayward father.

ALL who are quietly lost in their own ways, yet holding onto even the slightest belief that there is a voice greater than our own.

A voice from on high, or from within, longing, pleading, needing for us to hear, this that you are feeling is the love I have for you every second of every day.

Not just some of you, but ALL of you.

I encourage you, on your way to Bethlehem, find a quiet field. A room. An empty chapel. Find your place and be still.

And listen for the angels on high. Because I promise you, they can be heard.

If we'll listen.

And believe.

Angels.

Oh sweet angels, I have heard on high.