Coming Back to the Heart of Christmas
When I wrote “The Perfect Christmas” meditation 15 years ago, my objective was to de-emphasize the pressure of an idyllic, curated holiday. The goal? To make peace with my reality and peel back the Hallmark veneer and meet baby Jesus face to face “unplugged.” That meant a shift within me. In my heart I thought it was a “one and done” kind of thing. Yet once again I feel yet another shift from the brisk winds of change. I’m coming back to the heart of Christmas in a way I didn’t realize I needed to do. All this month, I’ve been thinking about the praise song “The Heart of Worship”…
Laying Key Building Blocks: Our Firm Foundation In Christ
Max, my autistic son, lives on Altura Street. Translated, the street name means “most high.” I love that the “most high God” watches over Max there. But his abode is not without its problems. In turnkey condition when we bought it, it’s now plagued with cracks. They pop up on walls, floors, and even in the dirt in the front yard. In thinking about cracks, I’m prompted to take inventory of cracks in my own life. I want to make sure I’m laying key building blocks. Our firm foundation in Christ is the most important real estate you and I will ever possess. And I want to make sure I’m…
The Astounding Bounty of God’s Intended Reserve For Us
On a recent Sabbath morning, the bold rays of the dawn’s rising sun peeked over the tops of my orange trees. The surrounding light flooded through my small closet window into my dark bedroom. As I awakened, God planted a surprising seed for this blog with His radiant illumination. Indeed, all month I’d waited on Him for a topic. Eventually it led me to contemplate the astounding beauty of God’s intended reserve for us. Beginning at the Beginning: Genesis But I’m getting ahead of myself. That awakening? It was just the beginning of how God gently roused me from a sound night’s sleep. He immediately directed my drowsy thoughts, surprisingly,…
How to Optimize Time For God’s Glory
During a recent chat with a dear friend, we began musing about future girl’s trips. Visions of yummy French macaroons danced in my head, and I could practically taste Parisian hot chocolate. Until a sobering comment jolted me back to reality: “The time we have left is too precious to waste on just shopping and eating.” As a Christian in ministry, I could not argue that vital point. In that moment I vowed to discover how to optimize time for God’s glory. Time and Our Mortality Are Finite It’s prudent for all of us in these turbulent times to consider how we spend the time God has given us. The…
Refining and Sharpening My Discernment
I’ve decided my life amounts to one long pencil sharpening. In my 20s, youthful arrogance usurped my teachable spirit. My pencil was barely sharp. New ideas piqued my interest at college. Alternative schools of thought battled for my attention. I tucked Marxist volumes under my arms as I strutted around campus. Then I stuck a big toe into various pools of alternative religions. I imagined I was the smartest person in the room everywhere I went. My pencil seemed sharp. Until suddenly I realized I wasn’t. Since then, I’ve worked on refining and sharpening my discernment. And the farther along I get in the process, the more I realize I’ll…
Readers Vs. Doers of the Word
I love how the Bible is baked in so many layers like a piece of baklava. Peel back one crispy, honey-laced sheet and you find another rich with substance, like a smattering of yummy nuts layered on that yummy pastry. In Luke 11:28 for instance, Jesus states that those who hear the word of God and keep it are blessed. But He makes a subtle inference. About what? Readers vs. doers of the word. Are you more inclined to reading or doing? James 1:22 lays it out point-blank. “But be doers of the word and not hearers only…” We’ll unpack more of that verse later. But first, let’s look at…
Not Oma, God! From Surrender To Serenity
It’s fair to say that life has beat me up a bit, emotionally speaking. Infertility. Autism. Ostracism. Isolation. I’ve endured far more than three “ism’s,” actually. Way more. I’ve managed to weather it all, sometimes with more grace and dignity and sometimes with much less. I am willing to handle the isms. It’s the oma’s I’m not really ready for. Yep, I’m not ready to face the cancer of a loved one. So I’m standing at the crossroads facing this new giant. My posture? I’m prostrate. Though a bit indignant, I’m thoroughly resigned. But. Well, just but. Not Oma, God. From Surrender to Serenity…I press on, not knowing what’s next.…
12 Tips for Loving Someone Who is Difficult to Love
This guest post is written by Dr. Michelle Bengtson. It’s easy to love our spouses, children, relatives, or friends, but what about those who rub us the wrong way or disagree with us? Yet God’s command is that we love others as He loves us, but how? As I’ve prayed and studied the Word, I’ve gleaned twelve tips for loving someone who is difficult to love. Jesus said in Luke 6:32, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” Later in that same chapter, He challenged us, “But love your enemies, do good to them” (Luke 6:35). Learning how to love those who are hard…
Leaving a Legacy of Refuge
This guest blog post is written by Jamie Bailey of Expedition Marriage. The Three Cs: Calm, Cool, and Collected I will forever have these words etched into my heart and my mind. Those were the words spoken by my grandmother hundreds of times over throughout my childhood. They were spoken often, because they were needed often. Even from the earliest age, I don’t remember my life being anything close to calm, cool, or collected. I think if I were to return to the generations before me, I believe those words would still only be relative for instruction instead of descriptive of the atmosphere or anyone’s mind. The 3 Cs were…
My Disastrous, Divinely Delightful Anniversary
Those famous words, for better or worse. They’re an integral part of the vows of marriage. As I young bride, I focused far too much on the “better” and naively dismissed how bad some parts of it might really get. Budding love really can be just a tad blind, no? And life beats down hard. Now that I’m older, and the years have accumulated like rings in a redwood tree trunk, I’ve spent far less time on the primrose path than I’d ever imagined I would back when I was a girl. So in this, my 38th year of marriage, I’m reflecting. On what? My disastrous, divinely delightful anniversary. That’s…
