Have you ever watched a room with dark walls get painted over with a wash of fresh color? It’s nothing short of transformational. I would know. I once thought it a grand idea to paint my one-window master bedroom “green bean,” which, within the shadows of my four walls looked more like the Emerald city […]
The Practice of Receiving: Getting to the Heart of Christmas
We’ve all experienced receiving an unexpected gift. Maybe it was from someone you did not buy a gift for. Maybe the value of a gift was far above and beyond anything you gave them. In these moments we feel utterly inadequate. We search for words, and shift uneasily. Simply receiving gifts is difficult for us […]
Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus: What You Need To Know
It is easy, and even understandable that one might gloss over the list of names in Matthew 1:1-17. It is a long genealogy but more importantly, it is a curated one. Subtly but intentionally, Matthew opens his story with the words: “The historical record of” (Mt 1:1 HCSB). Hearing this phrase calls to mind a […]
Establishing Family Christmas Traditions
I want to incorporate more Christmas traditions into the life of my young family, but that is an abstract and vague goal, which until now, had no hope of fruition. As December 1st approaches, I mean well and have every intention of executing every fabulous Christmas idea I’ve pinned on Pinterest. Reality is I maybe […]