Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
Dell Walker
1912 - 1994
"How come we always go to Nanny Cogburn's on Christmas Eve and always eat pizza?" Lydia asked the other day. "Because that what Papaw Cogburn wanted to do and he knew you all liked pizza; it's a tradition." her mother told her. I thought back to last Christmas Eve when I ordered way too much pizza for us because in the fun and glow of the evening I didn't remember, for a brief time was able to forget, that Papaw Cogburn and Jo Purkey weren't there to eat pizza with us.
Lydia has been studying Christmas traditions in school. I wonder if she remembered to mention that she always get treat on Christmas Sunday; a way, Duggar told us, for he and the men of his generation to remember their childhood excitement of getting a treat bag. I'm sure she didn't mention because she's too young to know, the memory of a song at Christmas.
"Beautiful star of Bethlehem, shine upon us until the glory dawn. Oh, give us thy light to lead the way into the land of perfect day, beautiful star of Bethlehem, shine on, shine on." how many years did we hear Dell and Verna sing that, with Barbara, Linda, or Rene helping? But even though we heard it so many times, how we'd like to hear it just once more. The song was more than Dell's and Verna's; it was Dell and Verna, because they have both been stars that have shone for us; who have shown us the way we should go, the way we should be.
I remember when Pauline, Debbie and I visited her one last time in the hospital. Even there her star shined when she smiled and laughed; it glowed brighter as she asked about the children in the church and looked at the pictures of ours. She wasn't interested in talking about her own illness and injury but she wanted to know how all the sick in the church were doing. Before we left, she and I agreed that if she were well enough that I'd come get her at Christmas and she'd come to church and sing her song with Verna again. But she didn't get to keep that date. Or maybe she did, because very few of us can hear the Beautiful star of Bethlehem without hearing her sing it again for us and thinking of how her star shines on.
