54 results for tag: Holidays

Advent: The Gift of Love

I was eight and a half months pregnant that first Christmas in my grief. Just four months before, we had received a diagnosis for our unborn son that left us knowing that, barring a miracle from God, we’d be saying goodbye to him way sooner than we ever imagined. There was something so significant that year about being pregnant at Christmastime.  I had low energy, both physically and emotionally, and so in some ways Christmas became a little bit simpler. But, honestly, it became a little bit more meaningful too. I would go about my days, obviously with child, and I would think about what we were about to celebrate: Christmas. The birth of ...

Advent: He is Joy

I have to admit that writing about joy in this Advent season feels deeply bittersweet for me. Two years ago, when I was anxiously awaiting the birth of my firstborn son, Max, my church asked me to write a personal Advent piece also centered on joy. At that time, I talked about choosing to find joy in Max’s Down syndrome diagnosis. I reveled in the parallel between awaiting the birth of our Lord Jesus and that of Max. I wrote, “Spencer and I are filled with joy as we anticipate the arrival of our baby who we know will change our lives. And as we wait for Max, we also celebrate the Advent, and wait with great joy and anticipation for the ...

Advent: Perfect Peace

Peace. What comes to your mind when you think of this word? A solitary lounge chair on a white sandy beach under a palm tree, the waves quietly lapping the shore? A hammock gently swaying in the breeze beside a still lake with a good book? The quiet of a winter forest, boughs drooping under the weight of silent white snow? Or does peace mean something more abstract and personal? Webster defines peace as: a state of tranquility or quiet. freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions. harmony in personal relations But what if our circumstances are tragic and chaotic, and we are overcome with heartbreak and sorrow? We each have ...

Advent: The Hope of Christ

Does it feel as though God is silent or distant? Does it seem like the Christmas season only reminds you of the ache in your heart for the ones you wished were with you? Do you wonder if God will breathe life into the broken places of your heart, or if there will ever be a day where it won’t feel so dark? You are not alone in those questions, fears, and silent cries for God to not feel so silent. In fact, for 400 years the people of Israel felt those same questions stirring in their souls. The God who had guided their people through the wilderness, performed miracles, spoken through prophets, and promised a Savior would come to redeem and restore ...

A Sacrifice of Praise

It was late on a Friday evening in January. I was sitting in a chapel with dozens of high school students at a winter retreat, thankful for the dim lighting that hid the tears that were streaming down my face. Just a few hours earlier I had been told that my baby’s heart was no longer beating. The worship team began playing, and soon the room was filled with the sound of voices lifted up in praise. I robotically formed the words of each song on my lips, but I was numb to what was taking place around me. Inside, I was crying out to the Lord, mourning the death of the child that I still carried within me. The next morning we gathered together again ...

Fathers of God’s Comfort

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Fathers, God’s mercy towards us is not merely given for our own comfort in affliction, but so that we might also display His mercy as we comfort others. I am not a very compassionate person by nature. My first reaction is typically truth before grace. While I am thankful for the ways God has allowed me to speak truth for His glory, I am called to give a ...

The Hope of the Resurrection

"One day, there will be a great reversal of everything we're doing right now." Pastor Chris said those words at Gwendolyn's graveside service, and it's honestly all that I can remember from his eulogy. It's all that I think of when I go by her grave, and whisper over her body - "One day, Gwenny! One day this will all be undone." I love Easter. I love it more fully now because it is one day in our calendar year that the majority of our nation sets aside, whether they know it or not, to give glory to Christ's resurrection. Now I know that you can argue with me that Easter has pagan roots, or is now so commercialized that everyone just sees ...

Receiving Looks of Judgment? Look to Christ. {Christmas Meditation #4}

Ah-ha, there is that raised eyebrow again. They think I have done something wrong though they won’t say anything. Their expression communicates clearly the judgement they are making. It hurts to see them think, "For this to have happened to her she must have done something wrong. God is judging her." For Mary, the mother of Jesus, I think she had to have experienced something like this at least in a small way. Before Joseph, a good and caring man, had the dream from God which supplied the explanation, Mary must have seen the judgement and sorrow in his eyes. They had not come together in physical relationship yet, and here she was, pregnant. ...

The Central Significance of Christmas {Christmas Meditation #3}

December is here. The lights are going up and people are looking forward to the Christmas season again. It is the time of year that brings to mind many joyous themes and remembrances of Christmases gone by with family and friends. Along with the many joys of remembering are also times of sadness when loved ones who we wish were around the tree with us are no longer here. This mixture of joy and sadness in our memories drives us to search for a deeper meaning to Christmas. We hear themes of peace on earth, love, and the giving spirit, and perhaps how Christ exemplified these, but, however true these are they have not hit upon the central significance ...

A Sunrise, a Light from on High {Christmas Meditation #2}

Electricity is a wonderful convenience until we lose it on a stormy night. Suddenly it is so dark we cannot see the hand in front of our face. As we stumble over chairs and other furniture seeking some source of light we truly know what it is like to experience darkness. John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah refers to people who sit in darkness, and the prophet Isaiah refers to people walking in darkness. Neither of them are referring to physical darkness but to darkness of the soul. Just as we have all experienced physical darkness on a stormy night, we have all experienced darkness of the soul as we traverse the sufferings brought on by this ...