I love preparing for the Advent season each year. When I talk with friends about our traditions, I’m sure they visualize my family gathered serenely around a wreath of candles, quietly absorbing the weight of the incarnation with our children, sipping hot cider and talking about how much we love this time of year. That’s…
advent
Not What We Expected
Before Genesis, He was. Before the garden, before the fruit and the snake and the shame, He was. Before the Lord spoke words that formed stars and dirt from nothing, tree branches and blades of grass from emptiness, He was. Before there was light, He was. Jesus was. Jesus, the Son, was with God in the…
The Gift of Nostalgia
With Advent, we can wrangle the power of nostalgia by looking backward and pressing forward with our eyes fixed on Jesus in either direction.
An Advent Poem
Crude shelter, dirty manger. Wrapped up tightly in His mother’s swaddling clothes, He left His kingdom to begin His kingdom, He left the riches of His father’s right hand. A baby needs everything. He was helplessness but deity. He left His golden, kingly seat to be wrapped in frailest frailty. Poor teacher, humble healer, gentle…
Jesus Makes Us Family
The newlyweds from Korea began visiting our church during the summer. He came to the U.S. a couple of years ago to begin his Ph.D. work, and she followed him this summer. The first time we invited them over for dinner, we all had to work a bit to understand one another. He’s had more…
You Were Made to Yearn
It’s a bitterly cold night for December. My kids are in bed, the house is warm and quiet, the lights are turned out except for the twinkle lights which I’ll miss come January. It’s the kind of night that I love. Everything in me should feel content. Some long-awaited answers to years of hard praying…
How to Have Joy When the Holidays are Hard
It was December, 2015. I’d never approached the holidays on such shaky ground. We pulled out the decorations and sipped hot cider while Christmas songs spilled from our favorite holiday Pandora station. If you’d seen us through the windows of our home, it was likely the warm, sugary image of holiday perfection. But tears streaked…
Advent is for Everyone.
“Build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of…
Traditions: a Holiday Collective
Are you looking for some inspiration to cultivate meaningful family traditions for the holidays this year? If so, I have a lovely gift to recommend to you today! I was pleased to be a contributor to a FREE e-book titled Traditions: a Holiday Collective. This beautiful 80-page book was carefully designed and curated by…
Memories and Remembering: How Advent Gets it Right {guest post}
A couple of weeks ago, I described my family’s tree decorating scenario to a friend. Full of whining, disciplining, grumbling, and short tempers, it was a not the memory-making night I had planned, and my friend laughed when she said she knew exactly what I meant. She gave me a rundown of the hectic experience…