Noel
We can all agree that this time of year is busy. There’s a lot of stuff to get done between the shopping, baking, parties, concerts, church activities, and the list could go on. I’ve had a lot of extra things this year as well—please do not read this as complaining, I’m not complaining, I love this time of year.
This season, while it is busy, is also a time when I can really reflect on the past year and how God has worked in my life. (I could jump right into this reflection, because it’s been a significant year in my life, but have plans to discuss this later.) My word for this year was Faithfulness—and as the year winds down, I find myself tuning my heart again to God’s faithfulness. This year I started listening to Christmas music earlier than normal, and the songs that involve the word “Noel” have really been resonating with me.
It occurred to me that I have been going through Christmas season after Christmas season without knowing what that word actually means—I’ve had a vague understanding of it, but nothing concrete. So I did some research. According to the dictionary, noel means “a Christmas carol.” Well, why is that resonating with me, other than I love carols? The word finds its roots in a French word meaning “birthday.” And if you look at synonyms for the word, you get a lot of different ways of saying Christmastime—it’s basically the season as a whole.
Even with knowing what the technical definition is of Noel, I couldn’t put my finger on why it kept coming back to me. Why was this word still coming to mind?
I think there are a couple of reasons why I keep going to Noel, but one reason really sticks out to me.
Words can take on intrinsic meaning—and I think that Noel is a word that has taken on a deeper meaning than the surface definition. It’s a word that holds a lot of hope. The proclamation of the birth of our Savior is ripe with hope—and this birth, the Noel, is hope for the world. So the way that Noel is linked to Advent is significant.
So while I continue in prayerful thought about Noel and how this year has been an example of God’s faithfulness, I pray you find peace and hope in the midst of this busy season.
