rebelling against low expectations
During the holiday season, people usually start thinking about firsts. With the current year coming to a close and the new one right around the corner, thousands of enthusiasts around the world create resolutions they hope to fulfill. While making a list of things you hope to accomplish is a great idea, the amount of people who actually stick with and complete those goals is fairly thin. This...
Every Christmas season we’re barraged with holiday clichés and messages of love and peace. Christian ministries remind us to “keep Christ in Christmas,” and every church sermon somehow intertwines the message of “goodwill to all men.” All of this is good. In fact, Christ should be the focal point of our celebration. But sometimes, the debate of “keep Christ in...
We’re apt to criticize the Christmas season. It’s true, there’s a lot to criticize in the way our culture defines Christmas. What should be a season of beauty, wonder, and worship becomes several weeks of fighting crowds and harried online shopping. Celebration of our Savior’s birth turns into the stress of too many parties and events. As Christians, of course we should push back against this...
As Christmas Day draws nearer and nearer, I’m sure many of you are gathering around with your families to take part in a classic Christmas tradition—watching Christmas movies. Favorites like Elf, Home Alone, and The Miracle on 34th Street play nonstop on countless different channels and seem to set the mood for this time of year. An interesting observation is the common thread that runs through...
From my childhood to my late twenties, there is scarcely anything more magical to look forward to than Christmas. Nostalgia is a precious thing. Sights, smells, and sounds all take us back to a place where we were warm, happy, safe. For me the embodiment of that contented state goes back to the holidays. I’ll never forget when the magic of Christmas was especially strong for me growing up in...
My child, there is a gift beyond worth. A gift that is given and renewed each day. It’s a gift to mend heart and heal hurt. A gift far deeper than the mere word we say. My child, there is a gift that helps us bare Anything that brings weeping and grief. It’s a gift to bind people and hold off despair, A gift far deeper than the mere word we speak. Like a healing balm and a bonding rope, Causing...
“I feel like a tornado just ripped through our lives. We all survived, but it still caused devastation. There are still piles of wreckage to be dealt with. Still evidence of the tornado’s presence. And it didn’t just cause new pain, it tore the doors off rooms where old pain lay dormant and scattered it everywhere.” I penned these words a few weeks after my momma came home from the hospital. On...
If you have been a Christian for a long time, I’m sure you have heard the Christmas Story a dozen times. We hear it so much that we’ve become blind to the goodness of it. We forget to take in what it really means. The Christmas story about God becoming man to build His kingdom here on Earth is very intriguing, but I think we miss the reason Christmas is such a sweet time. God was unable to be...
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” once again. Toys are more abundant, Christmas music plays from every speaker and radio station, and Christmas lights twinkle as I drive home at night. I love to look around and take in the beauty of the Christmas season. I am so thankful for the decorations, the parties, the music, the treats, and the gathering of loved ones. But there is so often...
Unless you’re one of those early Christmas shoppers who have all their presents wrapped by Thanksgiving, Christmas gifts are probably on your mind right now. We all have special items we want to purchase for our family and friends and maybe a wish list of our own. If you’re stuck on what to give to the teens in your life, need some ideas on gifts that are both meaningful and fun, or want to give...
rebelling against low expectations
