Today’s blog is offered in honor of my friend and mentor Chuck Miller  who created this wonderfully enriching exercise. This holiday season – the days leading up to Christmas, Christmas day itself, and then the days leading up to New Year’s – tend to be full of “doing”.  So full, in fact, that at times our days actually overflow . So I encourage you to slow down for a few minutes.  To slow down and engage in a short, simple exercise of praise.  You can do this alone or with other people. Either way, it will help you prepare your heart for whatever God has in store for you in the coming year. 1. Begin by saying this Scripture out-loud: Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love… for I trust in you. (Psalm 143:7) 2. Take at least 5 minutes to reflect on – or even write down – some specific ways you have seen God’s unfailing love during this past year. Thank him for these ways in which he has demonstrated just how much he love...

As I re-read the Christmas story this year, the word “adoration” came to mind. All of the central characters in this history-making story responded to the foretelling of the miraculous birth of Jesus with adoration toward God.  Mary - the young, poor girl from a small village, looking forward to her upcoming wedding. Her cousin Elizabeth - newly pregnant due to God’s intervention in her old age. Joseph - pledged to Mary and wanting nothing more than to be a good and godly husband. The Shepherds - working out in the fields, watching over their sheep.  The Magi - reading the stars from their observatory in Babylon.  In their own unique ways, these individuals all respond with joy when heaven arrives at their doorstep. They may have doubts and questions, but they embrace the heavenly interruption of their lives, and they respond with adoration to the Christ child. How might we respond if God made us part of his story in a similar way?  What w...

My heart always has been stirred by the songs of Christmas. The words of our hymns and carols often express the theology and beliefs of Christian faith, which enables us to learn God’s truth, even as we sing. In addition, there often is a story behind the song that helps us to appreciate it more. One of my favorite carols (and I’m obviously not alone in this) is Silent Night, written by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber in 1818. I never cease to be amazed that this Christmas classic only came about as the result of a problem.  In a village near Salzburg, Austria, it was a snowy Christmas Eve. Joseph Mohr, an assistant pastor at St. Nicholas Church, was preparing for the midnight service but the church organ was broken. How could there be music without an organ? And a Christmas service without music was unthinkable!  Desperately searching for options, Mohr showed Gruber (the church organist and choir master) a poem he had written two years earlier while serving in a diff...

Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved  by the letting of a little water. Christopher Morley As I faced Christmas, I felt heavy-hearted. We had been overseeing my older brothers’ care ever since he faced major health issues, and now he had passed away. Returning home from vacation, our RV caught on fire on the freeway. Between the fire damage and smoke residue, it was totaled. One of our children faced a period of depression and struggled to work through it. And there was a relationship at work that had gone awry, and I wasn’t sure if it could be repaired.  It was not the year I anticipated, nor hoped for. Feelings of loss and sadness enveloped me. I felt heavy-hearted and overwhelmed by loss, nightmares and distress. Yet, all around me was a world filled with Christmas decorations, cheery music, and bright lights.  I felt unable to process my feelings and find God in my pain.  Whether it’s broken relationships, illness or l...