Around this time of year, the “new year, new me” mantra is the latest post on everyone’s social media feeds. But, most of us don’t have any clue of what we want to change or how to change it. Wondering how to put your best foot forward in 2018 and beyond? Here are some things I’m implementing: According to Thomas Edison, “vision without execution is hallucination”. Set aside some time to really contemplate what you desire and put a plan of action in place to see it through. For example, a huge issue of mine is time management. To resolve it, I will be writing my upcoming tasks on a calendar and forcing myself to complete them at least two days before the due date. By doing this, I will reduc
I used to think that God wanted much from me. I needed to be good and holy and upright and worthy and sacrificial and pleasing to the Lord. And because I thought that this was how I was to love God and that this is what his love would do in me, I believed that all the world WANTED something from me. I practiced the kind of life that was always trying to make up for the love I was so desperately searching for. But Mary shows me something different. God birthed his ‘essence-manifest' into the world through an unmarried teenage girl, not because he wanted something from me. But because he wants so much for me. For all of us. The second I discovered I was pregnant with both of my children,
I’ve been challenged to dig into the meaning of the Christmas story more than I previously have. And the more I do, the more I feel that the modern world (including the Christian one) has gone “off message.” Why did Christ come? Why did he come as a baby? How did he impact the community he was born into? And what could it possibly mean for us today beyond the tinsel and the mistletoe? I’m not finding answers to these questions in toy store aisles, tables laden with Christmas food, and decorations hanging around my house; as much as I do like those things. But when I sink into the story, Christmas displays the generosity of God; how he emptied himself into humanity. As Saint Francis said, “
Most years, I start the Christmas season full of expectation and joy and then fall in a heap on December 26th exhausted and burned out. There’s always so much to do and prepare: gifts to buy, parties and functions to attend, food to make, dinners to host, which always includes a thorough house clean. School finishes a few weeks out from Christmas here in Australia, so the kids are home, lists are made, the tree goes up… Christmas in full swing often turns out to be the busiest time of the year. Which easily spirals out of control. Extra runs to the mall, extra dips into the savings or credit card, extra people over, extra events to attend… which all sounds well and good, and are all well and
