The Best Gift Ever! As a young child, presents are opened with such anticipation and surprise as the contents become evident immediately. The best gift that I ever received and am receiving to this very day was not in actually in a festive wrapped box adorned with bright, shiny...
This Advent I am grateful for the gift of hopelessness. Yes, you read that correctly. This past year has been full of heartbreak, suffering, and lament. It follows on the heels of nearly two years of unemployment, financial insecurity, and stress-related health issues. Any hope to which I once...
It’s found in Matthew 7:12 and comes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. We call it the Golden Rule: “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” That sounds pretty good, and I teach it to my children, just as it was taught to me. But I have to admit, there have...
Her name was Marla, a quiet, pleasant, unassuming young girl in my class at Lebanon High School. Every morning, she came to class, greeted me, sat down, and began working on her assignment. I looked forward to seeing her each day. It was autumn, and several craft shows and bazaars...
My most vivid childhood memory of Christmas that does not involve opening presents, putting batteries in presents, playing with presents, and destroying presents before sundown, is the annual Nativity Pageant at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Armonk, N.Y. This was a major tradition at...
The best gift I have ever received was not pulled out from under the Christmas tree or wrapped in pretty paper with a bow for my birthday. The best gift I ever received was a selfless act of love and kindness, demonstrated to me by a most unsuspecting person, my husband’s...
I have many fond memories of Christmas morning. As a child, I loved saving up my allowance and picking out special gifts for each family member; and I admit – I loved getting presents! But not long after I became a Christian, I struggled with the commercialism of Christmas...
As I read the pre-advent church bible assignment of John, I pondered how God used a disabled man to show His glory. In Life Lessons from John, Max Lucado posed this question, “When have you seen a person’s disability used for God’s...
The magi gave gifts to Jesus on the first Christmas. That simple act launched a beautiful tradition. We exchange presents with family and friends at Christmastime. We also receive the greatest gift of all given by God in the form of His Son. But in the midst of the holiday hubbub...
Last February, my father passed away. I was unable to physically be with him when he passed and in the months before his death. One of the l biggest things I struggled with was not being able to hold his hand when he left this world. In May, we celebrated what would have...
