King David and Joni Mitchell

Confession: I have been waiting for a Christmas miracle. 

I didn't know I had this hope in my heart until I awoke this morning, the day after The One Year, and my heart still hurt. 

Shouldn't I be able to think about other things? 
Shouldn't I be able to write about something else?
Shouldn't there be more joy, less sadness?

I mean, after all, I made it. I survived the year.  And many, many people walked, carried, prayed, and survived it with me.

Isn't there some kind of refreshment on this side of the finish line?

***

It's coming near Christmas,
they're cutting down trees.
They're putting up reindeer,
and singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long
I could teach my feet to fly.
Oh, I wish I had a river, I could skate away on.

~ Joni Mitchell, River

***

"Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest -
I would flee far away and stay in the desert;
I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and the storm."

~ David, Psalm 55:6-8

***

Joni Mitchell. 
King David. 
They both wrote songs of lament,
O, to escape it all. 

I sing with them both this morning, on Christmas Eve.