The Pull of the Holidays

holiday dinner

When I think about the upcoming holidays, my mind’s eye sees all the magazine-cover images: tables set for six or eight or twelve. They’re laid out with the good china, the crystal, the candlesticks, and table décor. They’re heaped with glistening turkeys, vegetables you’ve never heard of, and pies so beautiful they could be décor,…

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Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season

orange cutout Christmas ornament of a deer sits on a shelf

Perhaps you are a planner and October doesn’t seem too early to start talking about the Christmas season. You’re already formatting your Christmas card picture, booking travel plans, or deciding which days you’ll take PTO and which days you’ll “work from home” while kids are around on winter break from school.  I’m not very proactive…

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3 Ways to Pray through Christmas

pray through Christmas

1. Pray with Luke 2:41-52 that inspired Anna’s essay. What word or phrase speaks to you as a parent here? Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started…

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Christmas Is For You

Christmas Is For You

For the ones who are hollow inside cracked and cavernous dusty and dried void of vision and voice wrestling to find light to rejoice Remember: God came near Not only next-door neighbor near No, even nearer He moved into a woman’s womb her heartbeat, his song her breath, his movement No matter what they say…

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Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Hope

Advent for overwhelmed parents

God of hope, Help us in this season of stress, This beautiful time of year that Can bring added burdens. Less money, more expenses, increased anxiety, Christmas coming right around the corner— Everything feels overwhelming right now. For rising costs and mounting bills. For Christmas lists and year-end deadlines. For groceries and gas and everything…

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