My shameless, super practical, and not very spiritual list of things that worked for me in 2024.

It’s not that I want to be forgetful and disobedient. It’s just that I get busy! And God knows that about me – about us. In fact, He warned the Israelites about that very thing.

I thought I’d share an old entry from December of 2016 (when my kids were 6, 4, and 7 months). So enjoy this blast from the past!

Whoa. So that’s what Emmanuel means. God WITH us – literally, living with us, among us. In our neighborhood; in the middle of our mundane moments and daily routine. Suddenly it was more real to me than it had ever been.

Maybe the reason we don’t constantly, actively wait and watch for God to move is because we don’t really expect Him to. Maybe there’s a direct link between how well we know Jesus and how much we expect from Him.

Just like we have the ability to turn the lights in our homes off and on at will, so too can we choose to live God’s way or our way each day. Living in the light is a choice – a conscious decision, an intentional action.

 The message and center of Advent is deeply profound yet gloriously uncomplicated; it’s truly wonderful but oh, so simple. And it starts in the dark.

Sometimes saying Amen is difficult.  We may affirm the truth of something in our heads and give an Amen from our mouths while our hearts, meanwhile, are grieving or doubting. Some Amens are hard.

Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted that these “rope hats” would make a comeback. And I definitely would never have predicted my son would want one.

Lord, You promise to grant perfect peace to those who focus on you and trust you. Help me do that. Help me “stay” my mind on you. Help me lean on you hard and heavy. Help me trust you fully. Thank you for speaking to me through your Word, and thank you for your perfect peace.  Keep keeping me, Lord.

 Memorizing God’s Word is like packing your flashlight before night falls. You memorize Scripture before you need it, just like you pack the light before it gets dark. It may not seem like a big deal beforehand, but you’ll be glad you did it when the darkness falls. 

Let’s not look to a human on earth to bring us the comforts and riches of Heaven. And let’s not presumptuously invite Jesus, the King of Heaven, to be in charge of a negligible nation on earth like He isn’t already. 

The hearts and lives of Jesus-followers are ruled by an uncommon and sometimes illogical contentment that gladly and wholly depends on God. This is JOY.

So Thursday afternoon rolls around and Super Mom here (that’s me) has already arranged for all three kids to be taken care of so Jacin and I can head to the banquet. (Not to brag, but I’m slaying life, at this point.  As the saying goes, I’ve got all my duckies in a row.) But then disaster strikes.

The self-existent creator crafted us from nothing and made this world to work a certain way. He’s the maker, so He gets to define right vs wrong. And that’s exactly what His Word does.

Keep in mind, folks, this is an honest, unexaggerated description of my average after-school afternoon...Lord, thank you for these three Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Give me the energy and grace I need to survive (and maybe even enjoy?) their chaos. Help me be the best bird mom I can be. 

Prayer shouldn’t be a last resort; it should be the indispensable first step. And we shouldn’t pray only when all other practical options are gone. Instead, we should pray so that God intervenes in the most powerful and practical ways.

We need the body of believers, and the body of believers needs us.  Our faith should definitely be personal, but it was never meant to be private. We must practice presence. The early church seemed to get it and do it. Do we?

Keeping a perspective of “stewarding God’s resources” isn’t always my strong point. But it definitely was for the early church.

 Any time you put together a group of sinful, selfish humans, the most likely result is chaos, not unity. And that’s exactly what makes unity so very vital for the church.