Even folks who aren’t Christian know the story of the Nativity: baby Jesus born in a barn, surrounded by critters, visited by wealthy strangers. It’s repeated so often by rote that it starts to lose its wonder, like a word you repeat until you can’t remember what it means. (What is a “dog” anyway?!) Let’s …
Look up and see who needs you
As we approach the big day, it’s easy to let the busyness of Christmas narrow our vision until all we can see is our own stress, our own lack, our own drama. But look up. Who around you is hurting? Who’s hungry or cold? Who’s using rent money to buy their kids gifts? Who’s lonely? …
God cares about little things (like the Christmas present you should have bought weeks ago)
Yesterday, I was that woman crying in the toy aisle at Walmart. But not for the reason you might think. All my daughter asked for from Santa is an Elsa doll. But despite months of walking past aisles full of them, it didn’t occur to me to buy one until last week. Rookie move. Now, …
My 2019 in Books
Come see which books I loved and which ones I wished I had thrown out a window in 2019, then share your recommendations for 2020!
Let it go
Hey. How are you? Like, really? Are you gliding through your day on wings of peace? Or are you barely holding it together in the grocery store? If you’re in that first group, bless your cotton socks. Enjoy an extra nog for me. If you’re in that second group, though, you’re not alone. GOD is …
Choose wonder over busy
CONFESSION: I’m not feeling it this Christmas. I got any friends out there? It’s hardly an unusual thing to say these days, but what’s shocking to me is that I felt it so much before I even met Jesus. Every December, I was a holly jolly ball of cheer, delighted at the lights, the music, …
The currency of God’s Kingdom is love
Divine math doesn’t always add up. While your bank balance may look grim, God’s accounting is about so much more than numbers. The currency of His Kingdom is love. And when you lavishly spend your love—your time, energy, attention, food, gas, money—on others, God fills the space between what you’ve got and what you need, …
How good it is to be near God
What do you notice when you stop running and pause to sense the closeness of God? Today is my child-free day, but it’s the opposite of relaxing. I’m writing, planning, scheduling, formatting, errand-ing, meeting. I’m an Enneagram Type 1 anyway, and adding the OMGHURRYUP of making the most of my “day off” means I’m a …
You’re not a special snowflake
Turns out you’re not a special snowflake. You’re actually BETTER.No two snowflakes are alike, their individual crystals formed by variations in salt content, wind patterns, and temperature changes to create the roughly ONE SEPTILLION snowflakes that fall on Earth each year. That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 works of art you need a microscope to see.And yet they melt …
Small beginnings
It’s the little things that get me. And the big things. Those moments when you realize the God of the universe not only sees you but knows you.Like, really knows you.Because how could he not?The one who poured out the oceans has strung together your atoms with greater care than any star, breathed his own …
Pulling up stakes
Day 8: Season
No Novel November 2019
The State of the Ellie: October 2019
Of more delays, a mental break (and repair), and arting outside the box.