Category: Inspiration
Peace Leads to Joy
Meditations for Advent: 4. Moving Toward Joy In a normal year, on Christmas Day, as people around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus, our destination—JOY!—is in view. We can see the top of the mountain we have climbed. Looking back, we can see how far we’ve come. This year…
Maturity Brings Wisdom
Meditations for Advent: 3. Moving Toward Joy The third stage of our journey toward joy is more difficult than what has gone before. Last week we focused on practical things we can do to strengthen our relationships. In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul calls on us to examine ourselves, to…
Unity Strengthens Relationships
Meditations for Advent: 2. Moving Toward Joy When I originally wrote these meditations in 2017 I had been widowed eight years and I had every reason to expect that Christmas would be joyful. There is no way I could have anticipated a year like 2020, when even those of us…
Love Overcomes Fear
Meditations for Advent: 1. Moving Toward Joy Are you ready to celebrate Christmas? This year has been a hard year on many fronts. Many have suffered grievous losses. On top of record wildfires and hurricanes, our divided people coped with anxiety caused not only by the pandemic but also…
Moving Toward Joy: Meditations for Advent
Introduction When I visualize my mother, the first image that always comes to mind is of her with her worn Bible across her knees, index cards and pencil at hand, preparing her Sunday School lesson. Her old King James Version was falling apart, the spine of its cheap leatherette cover…
A Prayer for Thanksgiving
We come to you this morning, Lord, with gratitude for the wonder of your creation and with joy at every remembrance of those who have departed from our presence in the past year. We continue to trust in your promise that Jesus never will lose those you have given into…