Tag Archives: Christmas

Defying gravity

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I’ve been thinking about gravity a lot lately. I’m finished with physical therapy for the injury that kept me from running for many months, but during many of my sessions, I got to run on an AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill.

This high-tech treadmill lets you choose to run with as little as 20 percent of your body weight, all the way back up to 100 percent. When you run on this machine, until you set it back up to 100 percent, you are defying gravity.

During one of my last sessions, after I’d already graduated back to a regular treadmill, my physical therapist showed me a video of a blind runner using the AlterG. It was the first time he had been able to run on a treadmill without holding on with his hands. As he swung his arms back and forth, he exclaimed, “Oh, wow. Oh, wow. This is amazing.”

There are parts of the Advent story that defy gravity, too, just a different sort of gravity. Mary ignored the gravity of her situation and agreed to become a mother out of wedlock. Joseph ignored the gravity of staying betrothed to a pregnant woman and instead believed an angel telling him to stay with her. Together, they and Jesus (and one might argue everyone else in Bethlehem, too) defied the gravity of His birth, and a simple stable became the birthplace of the King of kings.

One of my readers responded this way to last week’s poll about favorite nativity figures: “The whole thing! A stable as the birthplace of the Son of God! How absurdly wonderful!”

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The season of Advent challenges our ideas of where kings should be born, and Jesus’ entire life and ministry was meant to challenge our assumptions about God and faith. My reader is right: it’s absurd and wonderful. Continue reading →

One swan a swimming and other cherished sights

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I’ve had the Twelve Days of Christmas going through my head this past week. Well, truth be told, it’s Jimmy Buffett’s new version (where “a purple parrot in a palm tree” replaces the partridge).

I love Christmas music—both holy and secular. It fills me with joy, delight, peace, faith, or even a longing for home and family and slowing down to enjoy cherished moments. This year’s Christmas for my husband and me will be here in California, and that means no trip to North Carolina. But we recently snuck in one last trip of the year to the western part of North Carolina, and today’s photos come from a most cherished place.

This swan is one of two that has taken up residence in a lake I love to visit. I’m not sure where its mate is, but seeing it reminded me of the seven swans a swimming.

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A watchful swan at dusk

Continue reading →

Good tidings of great joy

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We’ve made it through the darkest day of the year. The solstice is behind us, and the light is returning. On Friday we celebrate the birth of the Light.

I’m guessing you’re busy today. Perhaps family has already come with suitcases and packages. Or maybe you’re the one packing to head over the river. Or you’re stuck at work trying to wrap up that project. Or you feel chained to the stove preparing one last batch of cookies. Or no one is helping you with the mounting pile of dishes, and you’re left feeling anything but full of Christmas cheer.

Will you take just a moment to savor these verses today? To prepare for the blessing that is Christmas?

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people, for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
– Luke 2:9-11

I like the good “tidings” from other translations, but good news works just as well. Can you imagine the shepherds as they beheld the angel? Can you picture the angel’s great joy at getting to be the one to deliver the news?

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I shared this angel’s photo here several years ago. She remains one of my favorite Christmas decorations, and I’m happy to share her with you again this year.

Merry Christmas, dear friends. May peace and blessings—and the Light—surround you in the coming days.

New book, old posts, part 3

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I hope your Advent season is going well. I know what a busy time this is and appreciate you taking time out of your day to stop by and rest with me.

This is my third week of insane busyness with a cross-country move. If all goes as planned, I may actually get some rest today, in between pulling out Christmas decorations and unpacking boxes and finding a place for everything in my new home.

While I want to be here in this space with you each week, you wouldn’t get my best right now. So I’ll remind you that my book is available—in paperback and as an ebook through Lulu—and would make a great gift under the tree (there’s still time!). Each week, I’ll also offer a popular repost from Christmas 2012.

Advent isn’t always full of good cheer, especially for those who have lost a loved one, and this post from 2012 tackles the grief that can sometimes mar our expected joy in the season.

I promise to reply to your comments as soon as possible. Thanks for your grace and patience during this transition. Happy Advent!

“O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches!” If you’ve missed the other posts in this series, you can go back and read all about white Christmases and red poinsettias. But today’s color is one of my favorites: green.

This little green tree decorates the table where we put all our Christmas cards.

This little green tree decorates the table where we put all our Christmas cards.

That green is one of my favorite colors shouldn’t surprise you, given the title of my blog and the fact that I write so frequently about trees. And unless you walk around with blinders on these days, you can’t go far without seeing some green of Christmas: trees, elf costumes, candy wrappers.

Read the rest of the original post.

I leave off today with a wish and a blessing for you as we head toward the shortest day of the year and into the last week before Christmas. May you be blessed with moments of peace, deep rest, authentic calm, the healing presence of God, abounding light, and moments of joy to delight you in the frenetic days of this season.

New book, old posts

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When I was in girl scouts oh so many years ago, we had a song we sang in rounds: “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other gold.”

For the next few weeks, I’ll be insanely busy with a cross-country move, and while I want to be here in this space with you each week, you wouldn’t get the best I have to offer. So I’ll remind you each week that my book (the new friend) is available—in paperback and as an ebook through Lulu—and would make a great gift under the tree. Each week, I’ll also offer a popular repost from Christmas 2012 (an old friend).

And I promise to reply to your comments as soon as possible. Thanks for your grace and patience. Happy Advent!

Tis the season of Advent, a joyful time in the calendar as we prepare for Christmas. My husband and I got an unusually early start on our Christmas decorations this year, and our weekend of stringing up lights and hanging stockings on the mantel has me pondering the colors of Christmas.

In the coming weeks, I’ll focus on a different color of Christmas, starting today with the color white.

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One of my favorite Christmas decorations: a white ceramic angel holding a book and lit from within

In our western culture, white represents many good qualities: innocence, purity, light, goodness. We sing songs dreaming of a white Christmas and get a little excited (at least in some parts of the country) if the weather forecast calls for snow to blanket everything in its stillness and quiet on that magical day.

White is the color you get when all other colors get absorbed. I think the Christmas season is a bit like that, absorbing all of our prayers and dreams and hopes and expectations, even our fears and sorrows.

A little white book
I have Enuma Okoro to thank for opening my eyes to this color of the season. I’m reading her latest book Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent. The simple white cover drew me to the book, probably because I’ve found myself craving simplicity more than ever this year.

Read the rest of this original post.

What I didn’t point out to you two years ago was the crack in the angel’s right wing. When I was packing her away the year I bought her, I was being careful to support the wings in bubble wrap. So careful that the whole thing slipped out of my hands as I was putting it in a box. Her wing snapped off, and I superglued it back on. I found myself thinking of her recently, wondering how she will fare in the move from North Carolina to California. Here’s hoping she arrives with her wings still intact!