"Come Follow Me," was His only plea

'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Debra Coe

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

With thoughts of St. Nicholas and what he'd bring there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds

Without a moment of bowing their heads.

The scriptures were thrown on the shelves without care.

Little hope of remembering the precious words there.

And I with the tinsel and Ma with the lights

Had prepared for Christmas with no thoughts of Christ.

We had snowmen and elves and of course Santa Claus.

We thought we had decorated without any flaws.

For weeks we'd prepared with lots of traditions,

Cards of course and so much work in the kitchen.

We'd been to parties galore all dressed up in frills

And spent hours at stores to get the best deals.

The lights on the house were all flashing with fun

Lots of presents under the tree; we thought we were done.

We thought not of the needy, nor help to a stranger,

We thought not of the poor, and not of a manger.

No angels were singing in our house that night

We hadn't invited them so none were in sight.

The real spirit of Christmas was absent as well.

For only Christ's spirit will make our hearts swell.

And I wondered that Christmas how it could be

That the Christmas spirit wasn't stronger in me

Why Christmas didn't seem as it was in the past

Why Christmas just came and went by very fast.

When out of my wondering mind did appear.

Some scriptures I'd learned as a child so dear.

Of a loving kind Father who gave His own Son

God saw all our needs and chose Christ as the one.

Christ has the power to serve us so well

Healing the things that can lead to spiritual jail

I could change if I wanted with eyes that could see

"Come Follow Me," was His only plea.

I decided to change and begged forgiveness please

And asked how to serve Him while down on my knees

Serve others and do it as if unto Him

Was the answer I heard in the sound of a hymn

I rushed from my bed and I got scriptures for all.

So we could start Christmas just right after all.

So Christmas day we planned for the months yet to come

Of people we'd serve and we talked of the fun

Now Angels are singing in our home today

We finally invited them to come our way.

And Christmas is lasting the whole long year through,

With scriptures, prayer and devotion His spirit grew.