Have we forgotten Christmas? Or more tragically, have we never really known it at all? Have we embraced some pathetic derivative that is but a thin and emaciated shadow of something that we have found intimidating and demanding because of how grand it is? And so, do we diminish great stories out of our fear of them? More frighteningly, do we … [Read more...]
Christmas – A Sorely Needed Reclamation
Some thirty years ago, I was given the opportunity to be a part of the reclamation of a gorgeous seventy-three room colonial-style mansion, as well as the property and numerous out-buildings that were part of this massive, rolling estate. It had set empty, hauntingly still and seemingly comatose for several decades, with suffocating layers of … [Read more...]
Surviving the Holidays: The World
The Grand Contradiction Christmas . . . what do you visualize when you think about Christmas? Dancing lights, shimmering bulbs, air thick with the delicate aroma of turkey; wisps ascending from frothy cups of hot chocolate. Maybe your mind races warm with thoughts of carefully selected gifts, sugar cookies rendered brilliant by colored frosting … [Read more...]
Some Thoughts at Christmas – Seizing the Gift
Sometimes life is much more about reflection than solving problems. Sometimes it does us good just to watch, and in the watching discover the undiscovered. In the discovering, to then savor what we discovered. Sometimes we would do well to simply soak up this thing we call "life" rather than dissect it, attempt to control it and in doing so both … [Read more...]
The War on Christmas – A War on Ourselves
It is worthy to note those things upon which we wage war. There are those completely virtuous and entirely untainted causes that are birthed at those seminal moments when the very foundation of the whole of our existence is suddenly teetering on some precarious precipice. Indeed, in every generation there are those utterly horrifying moments when … [Read more...]
Surviving the Holidays: Finances
The Christmas shopping blitz takes aim at our wallets months before December 25th ever shows up. In conjunction with the glitzy ads and savvy commercials, we have this inherent expectation that we should be out buying things for people. And so we make our list, edit our list, ‘check it twice,’ ponder how creative we can get this year and how we can … [Read more...]
The Last Christmas – The Greatest Small Package
I don’t know how I got it or where it came from, but Mom always said it was mine. Sometimes we are gifted small things that appear to be the epitome of small things. Yet, lifetime treasures are always packaged in small things because only small things have enough space to hold something that large. The Christmas tree was always tastefully … [Read more...]
Am I Listening to the Lyrics? – The Music of the World at Christmas
With days shortened and the breathtaking migrations now concluded, the last leaves of autumn would spin in some nimble dance set to the music of the seasons, bow in the exit of a season well lived, and then graciously turn the stage of the world over to a winter’s rest. With fall having spun off the stage until the next year’s curtain call, the … [Read more...]
Killing the Sacred – Bludgeoning the Heart Out of Life
You’ve probably heard it said before; “nothing’s sacred anymore.” There seems to be a core truth in that statement that continually gathers momentum. We don’t appear to value a whole lot of things anymore in a sacred kind of way that makes something intensely worthy of our fullest admiration. Quite the opposite, we seem to have embraced this … [Read more...]
Surviving the Holidays – Memories
Speaking to Our Deepest Humanity Christmas and New Years are both rich with meaning and filled with ornate tradition. Christmas beautifully embodies and subsequently displays a desperately needed hope that something bigger is with us, that ‘God is with us’ despite how terribly difficult our journey might be, how terrifyingly lonely we so … [Read more...]
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