12.29.13 - "There's Still My Joy" by Kathy Mattea
On the day after Christmas I was driving home and found that our neighbors across the street had already removed their holiday decorations, and their Christmas tree, stripped of it's festive decorations, was laying at the curb ready to be hauled away. There's a sadness in that scene whenever I see it each year. It's as if we are all to eager to move on and let the magic of the season leave our lives, when I'd really rather that we hold on to it a little longer.
One of my favorite Christmas songs comes off the 2nd Holiday album from Kathy Mattea called Joy for Christmas Day. While I didn't hear the song until its release a few years ago, it somehow feels like it's always been a part of me, and I can't help but think of it as I start seeing the decorations coming down and life returning to "normal." The song starts with the voice of the song bringing their Christmas tree down to the shore and feeding the animals from it's branches. She has gone through trials over the past year, and it's the joy of Christmas, and the act of letting the tree, and really herself, go that she's able to find peace. For some reason, I've always felt that the song was about losing a loved one, and how that becomes particularly hard at Christmas, I've also thought it was a beautiful image of returning the tree to nature as if the whole season brings life full circle. If you've ever sat on the beach looking at a sunset, or sat quietly with just your own thoughts as company, I think you'll understand the peace that moment can bring.
I brought my tree down to the shore
The garland and the sliver star
To find my peace and grieve no more
To heal this place inside my heart
On every branch I laid some bread
And hungry birds filled up the sky
They rang like bells around my head
They sang my spirit back to life
One tiny Child can change the world
One shining light can show the way
Through all my tears for what I've lost
There's still my joy
There's still my joy for Christmas Day
As we close out 2013 in just a few days, I think this song is a great reminder of letting us bring our own personal "tree" to the shore. Letting it go, and finding the peace that we need to move on and welcome 2014 with an open heart.
KATHY MATTEA - THERE'S STILL MY JOY (Video)
http://youtu.be/G8b2a3ezW4U
