Sally Clarkson's Blog, page 74

Every Mama Gets Weary In December! Especially this one.

Dear Sally, HELP!!!!!!!! Love, A Mom

Dear Sweet Friend,

I have felt a need for help so very often, myself, so I offer you my best advice. First of all, breathe in peace as much as possible! Always plan to take a little time for yourself until you can get perspective. Even if it is being surrounded by littles or bigs. Put on music that pleases your own sensibilities. (I am so grateful for my Spotify) I have had to learn that no one else in the world will be responsible for my over-all well being. Everyone just thinks mamas are endless in their capacities to keep going. I have a husband and children who need me, and as I have said before, they are going to want to continue eating every day and to wear relatively clean clothes, with the expectation that I will be the one to make both those things possible! However, there are times I run out of soul-fuel and have to stop it all to refuel my tank. Then there are friends, ministry, responsibilities…….!

I am responsible for my rest, my quiet time, my healthy eating and at least some exercise, filling my cup so it will not be empty when others take from me, and I am also the manager of my chill time. Laughing and lightening up really brings health to the bones. “A joyful heart is good medicine” has been proved by medical research! And we all know that is not our first response when we get out of bed in the mornings and realize it is still Covid season and we are still restricted.

There are many tasks calling my name around the house, but I have become the queen of turning my head away and trying to stick to my most important priorities. I have found there will be just as many things screaming for my attention tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

But today, I know that my body and mind need a little rest, and my emotions become frayed and I become grumpy if I don't create a little break. No one else is going to tell me when I have reached my limit. But if I do not monitor myself, my children and husband and I will come to regret it when I blow up!

Though still learning, I am always simplifying and evaluating things in my life to determine if they are worth the effort necessary. I do think making things beautiful and special during the holidays is worth the effort, as it builds the taste and values and work ethic and ministry skills of my children--but all in its season, and only so much.

Not everything we have always done before has to be done this year. Fast food with candles lit is just fine. But it may not be worth it to answer one more phone call or one more email--as this will certainly steal from my children and husband who need me today.

Each of us has a different puzzle and personality, and we must accept our limitations within our own story and be comfortable being ourselves. There is great freedom in deciding to enjoy who I am, as I am not going to essentially change any time soon! I see so many moms seeking to live up to other's expectations and ideals and then burning out in the process. I have high work times,  and then times when I just can't get anything done--and somehow the world does not crash when I take time to just live and enjoy, and avoid the "I have to do everything or I will be a failure" syndrome.

It is why I have my cup of tea every day--a way of saying, "I will take time for a moment of pleasure and peace, because it centers me, and I have decided I will last a lot longer in this very long distance race of life, if I build anchors of serendipity into my schedule."

If you and I don't eventually make peace with our own life circumstances, then we are in danger of cultivating a heart of bitterness, inadequacy, guilt or whining, or having some sort of breakdown. But if we become the conductors of our own life symphonies and live within our own melodies of life, we will last longer and more gracefully with the God of peace, who leads us.

Spend time in God's word and let Him love you and love Him back. He came for you--He came to comfort. Let His comfort be yours. You cannot find peace without the Prince of Peace.

Take time to regroup today--Go eat some chocolate, and don't feel guilty as you are eating it--that is a waste of good chocolate! Listen to some beautiful music, watch a heart-warming movie, take a nap, eat on paper plates! The rest of December is still coming and you will be the better for it! I'll be praying for you!

Love, Sally

Advent: Living in His Light With Malcolm Guite

"And the people who were walking in darkness have seen a great light."

I love the concept of advent. I always celebrated “Christmas” when I was growing up. But I had no concept of “Advent.” It has rounded out my understanding of the longing, waiting of the coming of our God to help us, to redeem us. Advent has reshaped my inner feelings with an outer celebration and acknowledgement of what happened when Christ entered the world as a little baby, the lamb of God. It prepares me every year to remember that we are not alone, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, God with us. Just the picture of a tiny infant, being celebrated by angels, a young mother and father caught up in the miracle of a new birth warms my heart to the depths. So much to celebrate in this timeless story. But during the busy month ahead, to take time to prepare our hearts for His coming is a life long habit of worship that will strengthen us the whole year. 

Today on my podcast, I am reintroducing you to my friend, Malcolm Guite, a scholar in Cambridge, a Poet and very winsome and informative teacher. You will love hearing about why and how we celebrate Christ throughout the church year. This podcast has been a favorite in the past couple of years, and now it has become a tradition to play it again, to bring all of us from the dark world, this year a Covid-filled year, into the light of Christ’s reality.

Advent mirrors the quiet but soulful longing that grows deep inside where no one sees. We cry for the touch of our creator amidst the whirlwind of trying to make it through one more busy day. Painting a smile on our face, we stuff down the cries that remain silent to those around us, where we want someone to notice, to care, to save us. My dear friend, Holly Pakiam, shared some of there thoughts about advent, mingled with my own.

Christmas has become a secularized time in which many do not know that our Jesus came because he saw a world that was helpless to save themselves, that they are filled with the disbarring, soul-killing sin that darkens their hearts.

The trouble with the generalized ‘holiday season’ isn’t that it is a part of some calculated ‘war on Christmas’; it’s that it leaves us with no lexicon for longing. It gives us snow and songs, elves and sales, cookies and cards…but no vocabulary for grief, for sorrow, for the deep ache in our hearts.

 This is why we have come to appreciate Advent. Advent isn’t a spiritual, alternative name for ‘Christmas’; it is its own season, a season of preparation for Christmas. Advent is when the anticipated joy of Christ’s first arrival puts us touch with our anticipated joy at His return.

 Advent is a joy that helps us hope.

Advent is when we give voice to the ache and pain and longing in our hearts. Advent is also when we confess our own participation in the brokenness of the world. Advent, then, is not only about longing for Christ to come again and put everything back together; it’s about repenting and receiving grace so that we get to be put back together now.

But there’s one more piece. Advent is not only about longing for Christ to put the world back together, not only about repenting and letting Christ put us back together; it is also a chance to participate in bringing wholeness to others.

 As we enter the Advent season, could we as the people of God, be a part of the answer to the longing in people’s hearts?

Making time to invite your neighbors into your home for a warm drink or serving in the local Rescue Mission. Or maybe its through taking a moment to ‘see’ a colleague who’s going through a difficult time. It may seem difficult to carve out time to give to the things you desire in this season. We’ve had to cut out some of our regularly scheduled things to carve out space to focus on this season.

All around the world, we light the first purple candle in the Advent wreath as a symbol of Hope. Whether we sense God or feel a great void or doubt about his presence, we believe He is the hope of the world. The longing we have in our hearts for this world to be set right will come to pass. There are brief glimpses of Joy that remind us of this hope. Until then…we wait.

You can find all things Malcolm Guite on his blog. He is a musician, a writer, a teacher and a friend to many all over the world. I know you will love his writing and his books. Thanks, Malcolm, for being such a blessing to so many.

Play Episode

Join us in a fun Event! Sensing God in Advent with Joel Clarkson

Sometimes I feel just like a little girl who is sitting under the Christmas tree, excited in her little rushing heart about the presents she anticipates. But the anticipation for me is the arrival of one of my children. I get so excited when they are about to come home. So it was on Friday. Joel was driving with a friend over 8 hours through slushy snow and ice, and stopped in traffic. Yet, when the doorbell rang late in the afternoon, just after sun down, I had my gift right there, waiting at the door.

Funny how somewhere along the way, my children ceased to be so much my children and now are my dearest, trusted friend. They are the ones I want to talk to, ask advice from, celebrate life with. Joel has always been a special partner in life. His “always willing to help and give” heart, melt this mama.

As a composer, writer, photographer, musician, artist, I was surprised when Joel told me he wanted to publisher a book. Show me one of your chapters, I said, a little distracted. But when I read his words, the worlds he described set my heart on fire with delight and engagement I the beauty of his words. Nav Press saw life and possibility in his words and are suggested that they would be willing to do an event for us to share some of his book, some of our home advent traditions, music, food and our family.

I hope many of you will be able to join us next Tuesday, December 15th, for a live event. It will be night here but day time for you. All you have to do is register. There will be giveaways and lots of fun and it is free. And for those of you wanting the recipe for my Shepherd’s Meal Soup, you will receive a copy of the recipe and hear all about it.

Below is his book and ways you can be involved with us in the evening as well as helping get the book into the world. At a time when we are all exhausted and drained, many find themselves longing for a more personal, live walk with God. This book will fill your heart and inspire you as you see God though all the moments of your life.

About SENSING GOD

Sensing God is a discovery of Jesus in all of the sensory points embedded into each of us. It shows how the holiest acts in our daily lives are often the simplest: reveling in the beauty of nature; listening to our favorite music; eating a nourishing meal with family. These are potentially heartbeats of a living faith, and when we learn to recognize and respond to God's goodness in them, it draws us into redemptive participation with Him, the source of all beauty.

Joel Clarkson shares personal stories and paints vivid imagery so that we, too, can taste and see (and hear and touch and smell) that the Lord is good. In our exploration, we meet Jesus, who invites us to enjoy his presence and proclaim his visible, tangible, and touchable gospel. We physically experience the glory of our Creator and at the same time, we make that encounter a testimony to a broken world that is desperate for restoration. We are encouraged to get the good dirt of God's holy world under our nails.

Together, we will come into contact with the God who reaches out to us with His eternal truth through the goodness of beauty. Will you join the journey? Come and learn how to truly worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Preorder your copy today!
















Sensing God: Experiencing the Divine in Nature, Food, Music, and Beauty

By Clarkson, Joel



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 Join Joel’s webinar, SENSING GOD in ADVENT

Free to register! Live event December 15th, 2020, 2pm Central

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 Joel would be so honored if you would Join the Launch Team!

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Play Episode

Advent & Christmas Traditions Especially for Little Ones

When I was a little girl, once in a while, my mama would read about some project in a magazine and then would try to make it for one of us. She did not sow, wasn’t handy with needles. Yet, I remember as a wee little girl, she hid in a little room at the back of our house for several nights. The end result was the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in the photo above. They have sat below our Christmas tree for as long as I can remember. And I mainly remember, “My mama must have loved me because she worked so hard on these fun dolls.” Some how I thought they were the guardians of our tree.

As a little girl, I would turn all the living room lights out and just sit in front of the tree marveling at the sparkle and beauty. My mama played a favorite Christmas album over and over again. How many hours I wiled away, I do not know, but it gave me scope and time be dream and imagine about fairy tales of my own making just from being there.

Truly one of the most wonderful parts of Christmas is that everything is magnified through the eyes of our children. Coming up with ideas of things that would delight them and then continuing those traditions every year brings much joy to all, and it is so wondrous to me now to be able to watch Sarah celebrate with Lilian and Samuel in her own home!

A friend asked me to write about the traditions we practiced when our children were little. There are so many that I would have to write pages to adequately describe them all. We did different things at different stages. However, the goal of Christmas traditions is not to do the most elaborate and difficult things, but to help my children love Jesus, revere Him, enjoy His story, to transport the beauty of Christmas deeply into their hearts.

Jesus was the creator of delight, food, celebration. When our children associate delight in our lives with a parallel love we celebrate for God, it naturally transfers that they learn to love the God of delight, beauty and fun. I tried to make things so familiar when they were quite young,  that when they would hear the familiar carols as adults, it would flood them with deep memories cherished even from the rocking chair of their mother.

Of course, it is the whole year that will make our children fall in love with Jesus if He is daily cherished in our home. "Look at the twinkling stars that Jesus put into the sky for our pleasure. Isn't He wonderful?"

"I am so glad that Jesus made grapes. I love to eat them."

"Isn't it wonderful that Jesus created us to love music so we could sing and dance?"

... and all in the midst of the other rhythms of life, When the Christmas season was at hand, we would always say, "Now we get to have the best birthday celebration of all! God came to earth as a little baby to help us, love us, and save us. And we get to celebrate His birthday and love Him more by telling His story and singing to Him."

We need to look at little children as Jesus did--they have innocent hearts, they freely love, they adore great stories, surprises, fun, and giggles--they want to be generous and give of themselves without self-consciousness. And so we approach the season with their sweet minds in consideration.

So many people are afraid to have “too much fun” or to be serious, yet, I found that the more we celebrated His wonder, adventurous creativity, love, the more my children were able to listen to the more serious parts of theology. The fuller picture of Christ was born in their hearts through all that was good, true, beautiful, pleasant to their little hungry hearts.

I started out by singing the carols each night to my babies as I nursed them, so they learned them from infancy. At two and a half, one night as I was singing "Away in the manger" to Joy (very verbal and articulate at an early age), she looked up and me and said, "Mama, isn't it amazing that the cows blew Jesus and he didn't even get mad?"

I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "The cattle were blowing the baby awake, but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes."   She had engaged her little mind, seriously thinking about cattle blowing Jesus awake!

As the children multiplied and became a little older, we would put all in pajamas and have advent with them each night, singing a carol together, in the light of the candles of our advent wreath and then reading our advent verse before they climbed into bed. It is easy for others to hear of our traditions and imagine that somehow we had total cooperation, but of course our children wiggled or argued -- "You sat next to mama last night! It's my turn!" or "He keeps tickling my toe with his feet."

But somehow, it was the rhythm of keeping going and celebrating it the same way year by year that made it precious to the children. The expectation was that when the dark of night came, we would all cuddle up on the couch and sing and eat little snacks and read fun Christmas tales and have one more piece added to the adventure of the story of King Jesus.

One of my friends gave me this lovely idea. We would buy at least one new Christmas book a year. Her lovely idea was to wrap all of your Christmas books in tissue paper and put them into a basket, and after scripture reading for advent each night (or whenever you do it), the children take turns picking out one book to unwrap like a present and get to read that one together before going to bed. This also makes each book a treasure. If you want to make it easier, you can have an older children wrap up the book each night after it's been read so that it will be ready for the next year and then you won't have 24 books to wrap all at once!

What traditions do you enjoy with your little ones? (Big ones, too?)

Cherishing An Attitude of Christmas Joy

Every year we come to the busy season of Christmas and wonder how to make it memorable and special to our children. We all feel the pressure to give the "perfect" gifts to our beloved ones, friends and family, becoming stressed and pushed and feeling a need to live up to expectations surrounding me in this materialistic culture. 

Covid has changed so much of our year that we don’t even know where to begin. With lockdown, stores are closed, Christmas fairs are cancelled, Christmas concerts will have to wait for another year. Yet, as I look back over our years with my now adult children, they don’t speak of all of the “sparkle” or the amazing presents. Instead they say, "We belonged to one another in our home. We celebrated life. We ate a lot of Christmas cookies and had endless movies, cups of tea and hikes. What a precious life we had together with all the love we needed.”

Long after each year's gifts have been forgotten, if we give to our loved ones a joyful, loving heart, we will have given them a gift that will be with them their whole lives. They will come to us again and again for the "Life" they need to feel, hear and be comforted by during every season.

First, we must have a heart that says, "I receive you into my life as a gift from God.” When we see our children as a gift, we will treat them with honor and grace and find a way to encourage every day--to intentionally give words of life and encouragement to those who so need to hear love.

Words like:

“I appreciate you. You are a gift of God's love to me; you are faithful, funny, fun, creative” (or whatever is the key need of the person God has strategically placed in your life!)

"I believe in you and know God is going to use you in a special way."

"I have made so many mistakes in my life, but God has forgiven me and given me grace. He has already forgiven you and wants you to know His love."

A joyful heart is one that plans surprises--lighting candles, putting on beautiful Christmas music, serving a cup of tea, hot chocolate or coffee even in the midst of a busy day, maybe even with a little treat--and says, "Let's make a memory together right now--you are special to me.”

It might lead you to bring a single rose to a friend or leave a love note on a pillow or in an email to a weary husband;  a call to a struggling friend; someone you appreciate; or a gift card to a far off child.

Perhaps your joyful heart might cause you to take time to play a game, giggle at stories, lie in bed with a toddler or teen late at night even when we are tempted to be weary and just want to go to sleep. We must still make a habit of stretching ourselves, to extend ourselves as purveyors of His joy and grace as He shows up and gives us strength.

A joyful heart says, “Where can I leave a spirit of Christ's fragrance today? Where can I dance the dance of life in the midst of darkness?”

May we cultivate joyful hearts this Christmas!

Play Episode

A Clarkson Christmas Movie (And A Giveaway!)

Every Christmas season in the Clarkson house is filled with what seems like an endless amount of traditions. But one of the most memorable is one of the simplest. Christmas Movie Night, we have a list of our very favorites, everything from Miracle on 34th Street, to Muppet Christmas Carrol, to Prancer.

With tubs of popcorn and hot chocolate clasped in every hand, we gather in the basement, six (seven including Darcy our golden retriever) of us snuggled up on two couches, and press play. Even now with adult children there are as many giggles, funny remarks, and discussions as there ever were. These memories around favorite movies are treasures I hold so dearly. Which is why I’m so excited to announce Nathan (my out of the box, different, actor/filmmaker, third child) has made his own beautiful Christmas movie for you and your family to enjoy.

“Miracle on Highway 34” is a beautiful modern retelling of the nativity set in a small town diner and the characters that find themselves there on Christmas Eve during a snow storm. After such a chaotic and tumultuous year, Nathan is releasing a movie that offers a little bit of hope, love, warmth, and joy. Nathan wrote, produced, directed, and is acting opposite his wife Keelia in the film. He is hoping it will be a blessing to you and your family this year, something that perhaps you can make a memory around.

To celebrate the movie’s release we are doing a GIVEAWAY! We want to give your family a “movie night pack” complete with snacks, popcorn, and a free movie rental — on us! To enter simply take a picture of your family watching Miracle on Highway 34 (December 1-25) and tag Nathan Clarkson and Sally Clarkson on Instagram or Facebook!

You can watch Miracle on Highway 34 (starting December 1st) anywhere you rent or buy movies— Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, VUDU, TUBI, and more.

Watch the beautiful trailer for the film here!

Play Episode

Thanksgiving Blessings to You!

Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them.

Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever.

He has made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.

The works of His hands are truth and justice;

All His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever;

They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people;

He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever."

~Psalm 111

What a wonderful celebration Thanksgiving is! God is good and He is good to me. And He will always be good. As I turned my heart to praise Him in the dark hours of the early morning, my heart was deeply touched and so deeply grateful for His sustaining and loving presence.

Verse after verse flooded my heart.

He deserves all of our worship and thanksgiving.

He is working in and through all of us in this moment in history. He is bringing us closer to the time when He will cast satan away and rule as our righteous judge forever. He is preparing a place for us. He has promised never to leave us. He works all things together for His good to those who are called to Him. He loves us with an everlasting love. He hears our prayers and He even prays for us. He is with us, always, everywhere.

There are no details of my life that He is not above and in which He cannot help. Mine isn't to figure out all of the answers to my families' needs. Mine is to rest in Him; to adore Him as a child who cuddles against its mother. To sing to Him the songs and peace of my heart because I am in worthy hands.

As I ponder so many of these truths, I see His wonderful faithfulness through all the other busy years, so that I can say with David,

"I have been young and I have been old and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their seed begging for bread."

Even when I didn't know how things would turn out, He was at work, in faithfulness and love.

May we all bring a smile to God's face today, because of the appreciation in our hearts and on our lips and in our deeds for His faithfulness, righteousness, generosity and love. May God be praised in our land today and in our homes.

I pray you have the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Shaping Generations With Love and Beauty Matters! & Podcast

"The joy-filled life is not found by diminishing my God-given responsibilities as a woman, wife, and mother, nor can I find joy merely by refusing to face the hard realities of life in a fallen world. There is a tension that God is asking me to acknowledge and accept ~ the tension between ideals and realities.  True joy is found by living somewhere between the ideal life and daily realities.  That is where Jesus meets me, where His Holy Spirit empowers, and where I learn how to live the Christian life with supernatural joy. To celebrate life is simply a choice." 

-Seasons of a Mother's Heart

As I reflect on past Thanksgivings, I remember the amazing corn dressing, the lovely table, pies galore, Jelled cranberry salad with cream cheese and pecans and everyone together. There were times it seemed so much work and I wondered, “Does any of this matter?”

I know now, that the grace of life art matters so much. We were made to be dimentional people. Our brains and souls long for color, beauty, the crafting of words and ideas, the discipline of conquering a classical piece of music on piano or a contemporary song on guitar. Our palate are made for deliciousness, our longings are for traditions, celebrations with our people in our place done in our way.

Stay fast, my friend. A legacy of pleasure and joy lived out in the sacred place of home is leaving a legacy that draws sweet ones to your ideals beyond your present comprehension.

Today, my friend, Jacqui and I wax strong about these areas and what our grown children have told us.

Play Episode

Cultivating Resilience: Going into our Days Strong & Podcast

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

The afternoon sun sets early in Oxford this time of year. My little room where I work becomes totally dark just after 4 in the afternoon. I have taken to going on one last little walk about 3:45 just to get out of the house so that I am not too restless inside.

“Open, Please Come Inside” is a sign that caught my eye as I passed the church just down the street from where I live. St. Barnabas Church has been the place of worship for people in this parish neighborhood church since the 1869. Each day, the bell in the bell tower rings every quarter hour to remind us that we are welcome in its walls to find solace and beauty. When we arrived, a young man serving at the church, welcomed us into the neighborhood with a freshly baked loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. “I wanted you to know we welcome you into our neighborhood. Please feel free to come worship in our church any time you want.”

Quietly, I tiptoed inside the quietness, the golden ceiling shimmering in the light of the setting sun. No one else was in the sanctuary except me and God. Sitting a few minutes, breathing in the beauty and giving my heartfelt prayers to my Father, I found the quieting of my soul a comforting reality in the stillness and darkness of the closing of another day. Jesus sits above, reaching out. holding fast as he has through the decades when those in this neighborhood have needed Him. And that day, His love still reached out to me.

As I sat quietly, I wondered at the place that had been a refuge through wars, depression, destruction of the century and a half but had still retained its beauty, its solace, its promise to be there for the next decades of those who would seek God in the circumstances of their lives.

Resilience is the word that came to mind: Resilience:

The capacity to stay faithful, to recover, to restore quickly from difficulties, a quality of being tough.

And I realized that I wanted to be like this sacred home of faith, this sanctuary that held faith, to many throughout the years. Could my life and friendship become a home, a resting place for giving solace, strength, peace-filling assurance of His reality amidst the dark passages of life?

If we look at the combined stresses of the last few months, we are all having the choice to be valorous in resilience in rising above our circumstances or becoming victims to the dark season. Choosing to be resilient is an obedience, a work of a lifetime, a striving to move in the direction of faith and hope. But really, as a “moving toward my 70’s” woman, I have learned to cultivate this attribute over many years, many days where life required strength, to depend on God to carry me through by His Spirit. Practicing resilience means to pick up the pieces of my emotions and questions even more quickly than I used to as a result of growing stronger one step at a time for many years. Perspective and maturity are a whole life process, but the way we respond over and over again will build the legacy of our faith life. .

I have noticed that sometimes faith means choosing to be resilient, not living by feelings. Because I believe God is in my midst and above all the feelings of discouragement and distress, I want to please Him the most. So I get up, write encouragement, pray with my children and friends, seen to be of encouragement out of my love for Christ and my desire to please Him, not because I am some sort of extraverted optimist.

Many times, I have met so many who have lived through seasons of challenges from years gone by, have grown weary, they have not bounced back through the grace of God. What we practice, we grow stronger in, What we water will grow. Manyhave allowed the darkness of the world to wound them beyond repair. Cynicism, doubt, helplessness reflects their lives.

Yet, I do know of women I see holding fast to hope, choosing to model strength. Yet, a part of the integrity of our lives is that we can, by the Spirit’s strength, choose to walk in a manner worthy of Christ—to show in words, actions and choices that we indeed believe He is in still bringing His light, He is still manifesting His strength, He is still on target to redeem the world even when we do not know exactly what is going on, even when our expectations have been disappointed.

Today in the podcast, I have shared some of. my favorite verses that have spurred me on to being a woman who practices resilience as a way of faith. I hope it will encourage you.

Josh. 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

2 Tim. 1:7

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Phil. 4:13 

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Ephesians 6:10 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Romans 8: 37 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Micah 7:8

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

Prov. 3: 5-6 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Though many of us cannot be with our families for Thanksgiving, and we are inside our homes with no where to go for reprieve, and we wish the tumult of the election would go away and that Covid would end, we pick up ourselves, we bring beauty to choose, light to darkness and we breath in the peace that He is with us.

May God grant you peace, encouragement, and hope and resilience today as you seek to be faithful in this time entrusted into our hands. I send my prayers and love for you all.

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Be Vigilant to Be A Keeper of Light, That Your Loved Ones May Believe in the Light

I have the most wonderful wood windows with a tiny ledge in my small sitting room. The sun sets before 5 in the afternoon, and so I light candles to give people passing by a little “Hello, how are you. Here is some light to warm you.” The other day I met a neighbor and they said, “Are you the one who has candles burning for us? It makes me feel happy.”

They are lit during my quiet times in the morning as well, and while the darkness of night is still around. Each morning, my neighbor leaves his house and waves at me through my window.

As a little girl, I loved Christmas lights. I would walk out in the neighborhood with my little dachshund named “Happy” and breathe in the beautiful, colorful lights. We lived out in the country in a tiny little subdivision and everyone prided themselves in their lights. Some red, some blue, red and green, all colors, and all white. The lights left an impression in my little girl heart of magical-mystical possibilities, a world where fairy tales could come true, where hopes did not disappoint.

Created by God to be image driven human beings, since almost everything around us is perceived with our eyes, how important it is that we give our children images that live on in their hearts. When my children were small, we spoke of Jesus as the light coming into a dark world, but we also wanted them to have images that would live in their memory forever.

Each year at Shepherd’s meals, we turned off all the lights in the house and lit many candles. We told the story of the people who lived in darkness, have seen a great light. The magical effect We were made to be image keepers.

We can make a difference by creating images of beauty, purpose and life-giving. Children, especially, respond to these sacred common pictures left in the pathways of their minds and hearts. What could you do to create light-giving images in your home today?

Darkness seems to threaten so many sacred places in our times. Marriage is being attacked. Children are not valued. The battle rages. Yet, we have a conquerer, a warrior on our side, one who has already won victory. He is with us. We may champion alongside Him and sing His praises as we watch Him bring a rousing victory.

We are agents of His grace and light and have the privilege one time on this earth to sing and teach and tell of His ways and light until the victory dinner when we see Him face to face.

Just a prayer, a few verses and thoughts that spoke to me in my quiet time today:

Come swiftly, O Lord, to the dark moments when we are lost. Make us aware of Thy presence.

Strengthen us to resist the urges and pulls to deeper darkness. Stir us to move away from the dark moments of sinful selfishness, despair or worry toward the light of thy love, grace and forgiveness. Verses that my children discussed and memorized have spoken to them during their years so that the lights, the comfort has always spoken to their hearts when they needed it.

Come quickly, O Lord, as we call--or forget to call--and keep Thous close to us and keep us close to Thee this day and night and as far as the days and nights stretch before us, and we see you face to face, through Jesus Christ. Amen

James Kennedy, Holy Island

"If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to thee." Psalm 139: 11-12

"I am the light of the world. In me is no darkness at all."

And the people who were living in darkness have seen a great light.

Let your light so shine amongst men that they may see my glory.

Jesus

May our lights show forth today and may we walk in the light of His counsel.

Peace and grace to you today.