Gaining a heart of wisdom
“You can say ‘no,’” he said softly, in a whisper, so our son would not hear.Immediately, my guard went up. It was Christmas time, so my planner was bulging its squares with lists of things to buy and to wrap and to bake. What was my husband going to propose that required this ominous-sounding, front-loaded… Continue reading Say Yes to the Gift of Christmas
Scripture Sunday On this second Sunday of Advent, I'm already noticing my tendency to process life based solely on what I can see. If there are three pairs of shoes and a half bushel of dog fur on the dining room floor, I must be a terrible housekeeper. If no one in the house has… Continue reading The More You See: God’s Advent Surprise
I marvel at the way my daughters-in-love give to their families, particularly to my grandchildren. Both young women have the privilege of staying home with their littles, so they are up to their fetlocks every single day in feeding and clothing and cleaning up after the most adorable children on the planet (ahem). Naturally, being… Continue reading In Praise of the God Who Has Done It All
Sunday Scripture By now, the Christmas season has landed in your home with all it's busy and delightful frenzy. Plans drafted and resolutions made back in the first week of Advent may be starting to wear thin as deadlines loom and energy wanes. Let's pause for a moment here to remind ourselves of the purpose… Continue reading Full of Grace and Truth
Read me the stories Of Jesus and Santa, Of stockings and shepherds and toys. Tell me the wonders Of snowflakes and wisemen, Of cookies and mystery and joy. Read "Night Before Christmas," Recite from Luke 2 and The wild words from prophets of old. Sing a Blue Christmas Then open your throat wide And shout… Continue reading Growing Up with the True Christmas Light
Sunday Scripture Using the lens of what C.S. Lewis called "the baptized imagination," I try to picture what it must have been like for Jesus's brothers to sit around the breakfast table or to do weekend chores with a sinless sibling. After John, the Gospel writer, had opened his own lens wide enough to take… Continue reading Celebrating God in the Neighborhood
In December, Christians delight in lifting from the gospels the most iconic moments of the Christmas story: the angelic visits, shepherds flooded in glory-light, Mary and Joseph silhouetted beside a manger. By contrast, we often glide over one particularly dark part of the narrative: the tragedy of slain baby boys in Bethlehem that followed the… Continue reading Life Out of Death: The Incarnation Comes in the Context of Genocide
In a year that has seen at least 23 school shootings, parental grief lies very near the surface of our society. At the same distressing time, a stunning 1 in 4 women has had an abortion by age 45, creating a quieter, but even greater undercurrent of grief — one mostly unshared and unacknowledged. Then there are… Continue reading Celebrating Christmas in a Season of Loss
When Christmas seems to have been reduced to a shopping list; When the squares on your December calendar are bulging with enough activity to exhaust Frosty the Snowman, Santa, and all his elves; When you are tired of the knot that has already twisted itself into your stomach by the day after Thanksgiving . .… Continue reading Is It Time to Rethink Your Definition of Christmas?
Chopping up the last of my garden carrots and sweeping them into a snowy-day soup, I marveled at their color and texture, so much brighter and more tender than any store-bought veggie, even though they were yanked out of the ground by my exuberant grandson back in October. It's clear that these orange roots were… Continue reading Musings: December 2017
Living Our Days 