I have a books my mother in law bought me of famous hymns and spiritual songs, containing their hymnal sheet music, and the back story behind why the song was written. In one of the volumes of these books, there was a song that caught my eye: Lily of the Valley by Charles Fry.

Lily of the Valley is a pet name I have for my second-born daughter named Lily– who was born and lives in a valley town. Upon seeing the title, I had to flip to the song and pull up a rendition of it to hear.

“I have found a friend in Jesus, He's everything to me / He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul / The lily of the valley and in Him alone I see / All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole”

If you’ve been with me since the beginning of this little devotional site, you’ll know that every year, for five years, I’ve tackled the Christmas story in the weeks after Thanksgiving leading up to the big day. This year, I pondered how I could make my Christmas devotions different from what I’ve done in the past. So what is something about the Christmas season that can immediately put a person in the seasonal spirit? For me, before we put up the tree or bake the cookies, before we wrap the presents or decorate the house, we all do one thing: turn on Christmas music. To me, Christmas carols can instantly get me into the Christmas spirit, bring all my childhood memories to the forefront of my mind, and help me remember that our Savior, Jesus, came to be with us in the flesh.