“So, thinking of today’s readings, I wonder at a young man and woman willing to uproot themselves, to take only what they could carry on their backs and to go somewhere totally foreign and new, just on the basis of warnings in a dream. Sure, dreams probably had a lot more weight back then than they do now, but even so. I’m sure it wasn’t the usual way to respond.”
Then I wrote a Family Mission Statement and placed a copy on the refrigerator for a daily reminder of my priorities. The tenets include mentoring her spiritual growth and showing her the importance of helping others. “Remember to add joy and humor to daily life!” I also wrote. When my younger daughter was born, I had a perfect lullaby and thoughtful plan to share.
If I could talk to that frantic new mother in the nursery, I’d say, “Hang in there. The spiritual journey, with its opportunity to grow into a better human being, one who can raise good people, will thrill you.”
“One thing about Jesus was that he didn’t make resolutions. He set himself to live a course of life and kept to it. He had a job to do, and he was determined to do it the way God wanted him to.”
“I also think we see a relatable, human side of Mary, who too often is depicted as either a bloodless doll or who too often becomes nameless, selfless, only viewed through the prism of whose mother she is. She is relieved, and she is frustrated—and rightly so.”
“Faith, the seeing of invisible things, the author to the Hebrews called it, the seeing of a path that is not there. As I walked, I found myself struggling off-trail at times because I’d strayed, trudging through thigh-deep snow.”
“My frustration rises when I can’t find my glasses and I’ve inadvertently kicked my slippers away from me. If only it wasn’t so dark. I take a breath and realize there’s no hurry. Pausing in the room I wonder if this is one of the lessons the darkness is teaching me – to slow down.”
“This year, as we celebrated communion round the breakfast table and its creche, I realized there was one manger that did not have to be put away. And that is the creche of our hearts, where this Christ child snuggles in filled with warmth and love, and with the power of God to light our way home forever.”
Throughout the pandemic, I have turned to the website MEDPAGETODAY: Honoring U.S. Healthcare Workers Who Died from the Coronavirus. The webpage is updated as needed. When I go to the site, I reflect upon the acts of courage, professionalism and kindness given by healthcare workers throughout the world and in the United States.
“Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offers a prescription that addresses this very concerning decline participation in many of our churches and our lives. Why don’t you consider forming a small group in your congregation to explore how to change our lives to “Live and Act More Like Jesus” in 2022?
‘By God’s grace …'”
“How many sunrises I have waited for: trying to stay awake on a cross country car trip; huddled in inadequate blankets in a desert night; coiled against an intense pain I irrationally hope will ease with daylight; waiting on Christmas morning for that moment when I can go out to the living room to see what Santa brought.”