Good morning... As kids age, there are fewer surprises under the Christmas tree. Who wants to be personally responsible for choosing increasingly expensive gifts that will never be worn, never be used, never bring joy? Many times, our young adult kids do not even know what they want until they see it, until they feel it, until the clothes or the shoes or the accessories find fit on their own body. With fewer Christmas [...]

Good morning... Any words I write this morning would pale in comparison to the gift of this short video. Take a moment to marvel at God's gift. Mary, Did You Know? - Peter Hollens God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding, Job 37:5 (NIV), Sue

Good morning… I do not go to church each Christmas Eve because it is my holiday tradition. I do not drive ‘round and ‘round the parking deck searching for an open spot because I want to say “Merry Christmas” to my church friends. I do not cozy into the crowded pew because I expect to remember the minister’s message on Christmas morning. I go to the sacred service because in the darkness my candle [...]

Good morning... Amid the holiday hustle and bustle, I had an early breakfast with a lifelong friend. Sharing meals monthly, we talk like we are riding bikes, peddling naturally to the truth of the matter, to the core of who we are. After our time together, she sent me this story from a picture book called Zen Shorts, by Jon L. Muth. A Heavy Load Two traveling monks reached a town where there was [...]

Good morning... Christmas is just three quick days away. "How will I ever get all this done?" To discover the Bible's calm, clear answer, we are drawn back to the Mary and Martha story (Luke 10:38-42). 1) We must remember: Jesus is traveling in our neighborhood today. Let's welcome him into our home. The Lord and his disciples were traveling along and came to a village. When they got there, a woman named Martha [...]

Good morning... As we arrived at church the Sunday before Christmas, the life stage of our children was impossible to miss. Instead of tiny suit coats and smocked dresses of red and green, our young adults wore black skirts with boots, button downs with khakis. Instead of squirming through the sermon, our four growing kids were doing their best to just stay awake. Instead of rushing and arguing all the way to the church, [...]

Good morning... I just stumbled upon a resource I had never met. Through Dictionary.com, I found the "Word of the Day." What a fun thing to do, learn one new word each day. Today, my new acquaintance is "oenophile," which mean a person who enjoys wines, usually as a connoisseur. The key word in this definition is "enjoy." Wine can be enjoyed or, by it, we can be destroyed. It reminds me of that [...]

We are unconditionally loved by a God who gives us the freedom to make choices. Come close or back away? Quiet to stillness or busy into more, more, more? Listen well or refuse wise counsel? At every decision point, day after day, the LORD allows us to choose God's higher, heavenly ways of joy, love, peace or to choose the lower, human ways of anger, worry, division. Invited into intimacy, we can either listen [...]

Good morning... Were you out on your back porch last night around 9:00 pm watching for the Geminids meteor shower? The eyes of our family were searching the sky for the unusual occurrence. One of our kids asked, "What is a meteor shower?" and we all made some guesses. "Lots of shooting stars all at once," was the best answer of our bunch. Of course, I came in from the unseasonably mild, mid-December dark [...]

Good morning... "Refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies," the small plaque in the store whispered to my eyes. I wondered to myself, "Do caterpillars have the choice to settle for less than colorful wings and an ability to fly?" Of course, I meander home and google, "Can a caterpillar stay a caterpillar?" I spent hours and hours of sifting through websites chronicling the fascinating life stages of a butterfly. First, the pin [...]

Good morning... She wrote: "I so enjoy reading your blog every day. You always seem to 'hit the mark!' I miss seeing you and experiencing your Bible Study. I hope to get involved again, maybe in the Spring. One of my high school best friends had an unplanned pregnancy several years ago that resulted in a child with Down's Syndrome. Jaime is the youngest of 5... one of which is adopted from China. My [...]

Good morning... I had never read these words in the Bible until right now. "In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life," James 1:21 (MSG). What a simple, humble image of God's organic growth. When I hear the word "landscape," I initially think noun. As a noun, landscape means vista, scenery, panoramic view. Yet, in the passage above, landscape is a verb, meaning to [...]