The First 3 Christmas Gifts: A Little Life Encouragement
It’s been a rough year. Some of us have lost so much. Lives, livelihoods.. but dammit, we can’t lose hope. Covid has turned our world upside down, but there have also been some bright spots, like really “seeing” people.
But as the year closes, gratitude and Gift-giving are on some minds. I thought a reflection on the first “Christmas” gifts might boost us all. Who doesn’t like a gift?
I’ll start with this: the gifts given to Jesus are gifts for each of us.
6 Christmas Gifts from the Universe
🕑 5 minutesLast day of the year, and while many are feeling more carefree and hopeful, some are just trying to survive (connect people, pls).
The Christmas season can be rough, and means different things to different people,
But I keep thinking about Stars…
Lights in the street and homes, lights like hope in the dark season. A highlight in the Jesus Christmas story in that new star appearing on the horizon when he was born. If I think about God’s heart, I wonder if that was more than just a flare.
Here’s my take on 6 “Christmas” gifts thanks to the Christmas story. Enjoy and take with you into the New Year.
Humble Rebels: 5 Ways to Have a Mary & Joseph Spirit this Christmas
🕑 3 minutes
It’s Christmas time, and while skies darken, lights get brighter and more numerous. The year is closing fast.
This week my children’s school did a “Herdertjestocht,” (“Sheperd’s trail”) throughout the neighborhood, where live-action posts were setup and the kids performed different parts of the Christmas story in the night.
The Torch and Oven: A Christmas Story You Didn’t Hear
🕑 3 minutesChristmas is a time to enjoy cozy lights, sweet treats, and Dutch gezelligheid – a wonderful word without pure translation, but roughly: nice/comfy/friendly/cozy- ness.
Some think of “baby Jesus,” or making everything just right, and still others wish to fast forward through the season. Holidays can be painful for some so I want to share a verse I’ve never heard at Christmastime which may give hope, especially to any who’ve ever been oppressed. Or maybe it gives more perspective beyond the baby in a manger.
The baby in a feeding trough: A Secret of the Manger
🕑 3 minutesThis is Day 20 of the “Wild Kids, Wild God – Looking into God’s Heart Series“
A “manger” is sad place to put a baby in any era. The word comes from French, manger (mahn-shay), which means, “to eat.” Indeed, Jesus’ crib was a feeding trough, filled with food scraps and leftovers–things we probably would call trash.
If you’ve ever been treated like crap, rejected, looked down upon, spoken ill of, if you ever felt like you deserved better but instead got worse, please know, what happened to you matters
…
…But didn’t Jesus deserve a palace? After all, he got his very own Star! Alas, God was determined to identify 100% with Mankind: not just live among us, but get knee deep in our M.e.s.s. .(btw, Im betting we all got a star…)
God loves using symbolism and I wondered, Why the barn? Why a feeding trough?