American Thanksgiving weekend has arrived, and Christmas is on the way. Holidays draw families together—at least in the physical sense. But sometimes they become an emotional testing ground. This is nothing new. Recall Hannah’s situation. She shared her husband with a second wife, Peninnah. As though that wasn’t enough to create family tension, her… [ read more ]
Posts Tagged: Christmas
Celebrating Christmas Without Clutter
Christmas is almost here! In a few hours my husband and I, together with our eldest daughter and son-in-law, will begin the long drive to southern Alberta to celebrate Jesus’s birthday with my 85-year-old mom and my brother’s family. It’s been 16 years since we made that trek through the Rockies—the lapse due mostly to… [ read more ]
Experience Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love Every Day of the Year
Gene and I celebrated Christmas early with our kids and grandchildren, but we’d still planned to drive five hours on Saturday to spend the weekend with our eldest daughter and her husband in Washington state. Plans changed when a tummy bug knocked me flat on Friday (hence, no blog that day). Thankfully I’d… [ read more ]
My Christmas Gift to Jesus
The Christmas gifts are wrapped and ready. Some are in boxes, others tucked in bags. One’s in a giant bag that stands more than three feet high. Each one is an item that reflects my love for the recipient and that he/she will find meaningful. I think about the three wise men and their gifts… [ read more ]
A Prayer for Peace at Christmas
A Prayer for Peace at Christmas It was still dark this morning as I drove to the gym. Blue, white, red, and green Christmas lights twinkled from the eaves and railings of homes and businesses along the way. A contemporary carol played on the radio. When it ended, the hourly news broadcast began…. [ read more ]
A Baby Changes Everything—Including Me and You
A group of women who’d spent the fall studying Moving From Fear to Freedom: A Woman-to-Woman Conversation invited me to join them for a Christmas brunch on Wednesday morning. The brunch was to start at 9 AM. My Wednesday morning online Bible study runs from 8 AM-9 AM. To accommodate both meetings meant… [ read more ]
Holding to Hope in the Holidays
It’s been a tough year. The news pummels us with global tragedy—Nepal’s deadly earthquake, the refugee crisis, Paris and other mass shootings. It shows pictures of weather-related destruction, and it threatens us with impending doom unless we stop global warming. Some folks watch these things and wring their hands in despair. Others hit the… [ read more ]
How to Respond When Christmas Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations
Sometimes Christmas doesn’t meet our expectations. We enter the season with high hopes but find them dashed: We spend hours preparing for long-distance houseguests, but a blizzard delays or prevents them from coming. Or we’re the ones scheduled to travel but find our plans changed due to weather. We anticipate a warm, fuzzy family get-together,… [ read more ]
Making Time to be Still in This Busy Season
In this crazy busy season we sing about silent nights when all is calm. The irony is that we feel anything but calm, and finding time to be still seems nigh to impossible. But it’s one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and ultimately for others. Last year someone gave me… [ read more ]
A Promise of Hope for When We Hurt
As Christmas approaches, I’m doing all the necessary things—checking off the gift list, planning our holiday menu, and preparing our house for overnight guests and for a couple of parties with friends and neighbours. I’m even making more time this year than in the past to attend various Christmas productions to help keep me… [ read more ]
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