Waiting, Waiting, and More Waiting
Christmas Advent is a time of waiting. I volunteer in our church infant nursery during Sunday School. There’s nothing like nestling with a newborn, their soft fuzzy heads laying just so on your chest, their padded bottoms cupped in your hand, feeling their butterfly breaths tickle your chin. I’ve been privileged to experience with our young families the mixed fearful anticipation and exhilarating excitement waiting together for their Advent newborns.
Hark! Hark!
I’ve collected nativity scenes since I was a teenager. I especially like the folksy artsy ones. That is how I “deck the halls” for Christmas. I clear all tables and cabinet surfaces, store away items in bins for the season, and start resurfacing with nativities from all over the world. Each set emotes treasured vignettes of specific times and places. My mind tumbles down memory lanes paying attention to noteworthy stop signs along the way!
Jesus Loves the Little Children, All the Children of the World
Today, I was knee deep in tissue paper, unwrapping Christmas ornaments I had so carefully stored the previous Christmas season. I cherish the warm fuzzies I get from unwrapping each tissue cocooned ornament, systematically rediscovering the stories they evoke. One such storied ornament depicts children from all nations holding hands around the earth’s globe. It was gifted to me by a dear young family who we introduced to my homeland, Lebanon, through our church’s annual mission trip. They serve in a residential Home for abandoned, refugee, or homeless children. This precious family now claims Lebanon as home for themselves also. The ornament, a thank you gift, reminds me each year of the equalizing universality of God’s love for us all.
Hug In A Mug
Some of you don’t have to wait as long as we do in Texas for that first cool snap to indulge in a mug of hot chocolate, the quintessential Christmas beverage. And why does it taste so much better from your favorite coffee shop than from your own home? Here’s the secret; I’m going to transform you into a hot chocolate barista armed with a no-fuss guaranteed to impress mug after yummy mug recipe.
Help, I’m Breaking
As I’ve been learning to worship God and to place my trust in Him, a crisis will not break me but will reveal that I can go to the point of breaking yet without shattering. Learning to worship is a process. How does the result of worship manifest itself in my life?
Giving Asylum
What does that mean? For me, it means being a safe person. An apt metaphor for this state of being is my backyard insect hotel. Yes! It’s a real thing!
Bread of Life
Bread unites people, intimately around a table or on a large scale as a country. It is a staple of the human diet across all cultures. Sharing of bread emotes feelings of hospitality, belonging, and satiated contentment.