The following came in on my daily prayer e-newsletter for China as we count down the days until that country hosts the 2008 Olympics. May we who celebrate Christ’s birth take this lesson to heart. Merry Christmas! 

Mrs. Yang is slim, young looking and elegantly dressed in silk trousers and a patterned blouse, but she is actually 73 years old, and the survivor of 10 years in a labor camp.  She explains, “We must sing to keep up the spirit …” Most Chinese Christians know at least a hundred songs by heart!  When Mrs. Yang sits down to a meal, she sings a hymn.  When she reads her Bible, she starts and finishes with a hymn.  When she was locked into a cell with no light, she sang hymns.  She encourages the church in the West to practice this “habit of holiness,” of singing to God by oneself.