According to the Bible, ancient Bethlehem was the birthplace of a savior for all people. Kings and shepherds alike came to see the miracle. In a tiny wooden castle with a straw throne, their Messiah took His first breaths and slept in the night.
By altering the year and some details, we come to a modern story that isn't so different. A glimmer of somethingness was found in the canvas of the darkest hours. The rich, the poor, the young, the old, the pretty and the not-so-attractive could all find hope in this humble miracle. Their hearts were pacified; their inner fires ablaze. From the first time the music of Paula Cole touched their ears, they knew inherently that this, this was the harbinger of a journey to one of the greatest passions they could ever hear.
Aldous Huxley once wrote, "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." So how can one attempt to express music? Music is the ultimate expression of all that is life. As much as I would like for this detour on the Web to furnish the sensations of that miracle, I know the only souvenir of that moment lives with you and you alone.
Conversely, Bethlehem was also the the alter ego of Rockport, Massachusetts, the suffocatingly small hometown of Paula Cole. For me, one of the healings she performed was through the song that carried this title. The invisible walls of rural life seemed to encroach upon all that I held sacred. It was as if King Herod had returned to Bethlehem, on a seek and destroy mission of what I believed in.
Or maybe, maybe...it was the invisible walls of me. I had always reminded myself that I never wanted to be me, I never wanted to be here. When I learned to break that habit, it suddenly became easy to look at my Bethlehem and spot the star above it. It reminded me that hope can be found wherever you seek it. It reminded me that soon, very soon I would leave and be free, and then, finally, after shedding the skin of expectations, I will be born.
May you find the same comfort here in what I wish to be the birthplace of that hope for everyone.
"To live is to slowly be born."
Antoine de Saint-Expury
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