Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 39
December 22, 2022
Forget Saks 5th Avenue: A Real Revolutionary Merry Christmas Story & How Everything Can Turn Around
She’d never been to New York City before, and was on the cusp of turning 71.
I had to fly again for meetings in New York, after my long year of weariness and grief and loneliness, and just before they turned on the Christmas lights.
So I give her soft, wrinkled cheek a tender kiss, slip the plane ticket into hand, and whisper “Come with me, Mama.”
We only have so many revolutions around the sun and every day is about overturning the dark.
I take her first to Strand’s Book Store–and literally have to drag her by the hand into the actual store, as she gleefully dives into all the used books just in carts out on the sidewalk. Kids in candy stores look nearly catatonic in comparison to my Mama in a bookstore. I keep whispering to her in the stacks, “Just remember–we have to figure out how to fit all these books into your carryon?”
“I’ll leave clothes behind for books,” she winks. I’m not ashamed to say how I like the way the gears in Mama’s mind turns and overturns all things.
We only have so many revolutions around the sun and every day is about overturning the dark.
When we sit up in the balcony at the Metropolitan Opera, to watch La Boheme, the librettist lifts the roof and all the heaviness of the year with those lilting lines,
“In you I see a dream come to life–
A dream I pray always to dream!
In the depths of my soul
I tremble…
Your kisses thrill life itself.”
And I steal a glance in the dark over at my mama’s eyes glinting, her thrilling, kindling again, to life itself.
In this world, there is One heavenly dream who comes to life, to give life, a dream we pray always to dream, even in our darkest nightmare, so we wake to the Light forever, all our weary hopes fulfilled.
It’s late and cold when we slip down 5th Avenue to the 70-some foot Norway Spruce Christmas tree that’s only been freshly lit not yet even 24 hours, presiding there over Rockefeller Center and the ice skaters carving figure eights there under her twinkling limbs.
Mama, she turns and pats my arm, “Ain’t it all just something else, Ann?”
And I can see all the lights flickering in her eyes, just like they do in every single one of the 125 million actual human beings who will make their way this Christmas season to stand in awe at the foot of that Tree.
Then, just as we turn around, straight across from the Rockefeller tree, the whole 10 story front of Saks Fifth Avenue ignites with choreographed lights, over 700,000 programmed LED lights all flashing to the tune of Mariah Carey’s “Christmas–Baby Please Come Home.”
Mama holds up her phone like a glowing flag and hits record and swoons a bit like everyone else standing wide-eyed there on the street, and I smile at her and the lights and all these turning constellations of grace.
But God came down and the new kingdom’s breaking in, and the revolution has begun, and nothing in this busted old world is the same.
And then the instrumental music suddenly turns to the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and the lights flash and dance and right there on 5th Avenue with thousands witnessing a light show bar none, and I catch my breath.
The instrumental music keeps directing this light extravaganza–but does anyone know the words, the words that aren’t playing, but actually accompany this song that is making all of 5th Avenue stand agape with faces turned up to the heavens, words I half expect the entire filled 5th Avenue to raise hands and begin to sing:
“Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee
Op’ning to the Sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
drive the dark of doubt away
Give of immortal gladness
fill us with the light of day…”
There’s a dream we pray to dream
where we turn and open to the Son above
and all the dark
forever burns away.
“Mama,” I lean in. “Just before it closes–can we slip right over there into St. Patrick’s?”
I point to the darkened towers of the stone church right next door of flashy Saks.
And she nods and takes my arm and we make our gentle way through the crowds of Christmas merry makers and up the stairs into the vaulted stillness of the cathedral.
The nave rises more than 100 glorious feet above us, like we can ascend to heaven–or heaven has split and come down to us.
And we catch a glimpse of it off to the side, the larger than life nativity, nestled into the side aisle of the cathedral–and in the last few moments before the cathedral closes here on the lit and full streets of New York, we draw near and sit close.
Behind the creche that is ache-waiting for the Child, I see it carved right into the stone of the cathedral walls, sculpted and alive and moving, deeply moving,
The Babe will bear a cross and
all the brokenness of the world,
of history, of humanity, there
on His bare back.
And what if He had never come?
What if He had never gone to the only needed Tree?
What if He had never entered here and we stayed in the dark for always here? What if there was never any rescue, never any way out, never any hope of real wholeness?
But God came down and the new kingdom’s breaking in, and the revolution has begun, and nothing in this busted old world is the same.
The revolution that begins under the spinning stars of Bethlehem means relationships can turn around, prodigals can turn around, diagnosis can turn around, circumstances can turn around, injustices can turn around, the impossible can turn around.
The revolution that begins under the spinning stars of Bethlehem means relationships can turn around, prodigals can turn around, diagnosis can turn around, circumstances can turn around, injustices can turn around, the impossible can turn around.
Already now:
The revolution has begun to destroy dark’s destruction.
The revolution has begun to crush injustice’s corruptions.
The revolution has begun to wreck every disappointment’s intrusion.
Because God came to breathe this same air, everything in the world is now different.
The direction of everything is different now because:
The King of heaven has come right down and now God’s kingdom is coming right here on earth as it is in heaven.
Because a new Babe was born in Bethlehem, there is a new order born into this world!
Because the Word became flesh, the word on the street is revolutionary hope!
Because there is a new King, there is a new Way for everything!
Because the revolution has begun, all in the kingdom are finally free to begin a new vocation:
The One who bears the Cross and all the world’s brokenness for us, now gives us all this main vocation to bear His image in a broken world. The image bearers of God must always be bearing a cross.
A Christian’s vocation is always cruciformation.
To reach out with hope to the hurting,
to stretch out with a branch of peace
to the polarized, to open our arms
wide to welcome in the difficult
because the world now is entirely different.
The lights can turn all up and down 5th Avenue, and the Rockefeller Tree can draw millions.
And the choreographed light show flashing across the facade of Saks can stop the crowds slack jawed in the streets.
But the real revolution has begun in the dark of a barn, the real revolution has begun that will overturn all the regimes of darkness and sadness and brokenness, the real revolution has begun in us that keep bringing the kingdom down, that keeps turning everything around.
All the Christmas lights everywhere are but a sign of how Christ’s revolution has begun, overturning all the dark.
As we wait for a cab to take us back up 5th Avenue, Mama takes one more look over at the Rockefeller Tree and the crush of gazing site seers, and up at all the lights dancing up Saks to thundering music, and I hear her humming to the choreographed lights, that worship that underlies all of our Christmases, whether we realize it or not:
“Joyful, joyful we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love…
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
fill us with the light of day…”
And all our chains begin to break, the dark begins to crack with light, and all us hurting begin to witness.
The signs of the dawning new Kingdom coming, because a God-man hung on a tree to whom all of history will one day gaze in worship and bow, and the cosmic overthrow of all our sadness is starting already now.
All the Christmas lights everywhere are but a sign of how Christ’s revolution has begun, overturning all the dark.
Merry Revolutionary Christmas.
***
Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here.
Come let Jesus touch our broken relationships & heal us & reconcile us with His PEACE.
This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, your family, will need.
December 21, 2022
What the Darkest Day of the Year (And all our Dark Days) Needs to Know
Trim the wicks, watch the reflections, sit in the dark and wait. It’s the longest, darkest day of the year for a lot of us right now.
So we wait. We wait through the long, black night. Wait through the black that gets in your marrow.
Wait through the crying you can’t always hear, wait through the sickness, wait through the hardships, wait through all kinds of dying. Sit through the night and the losses that scrape the sides of a soul, the burning tears that run, run through this night even now.
There is a light that the people in the dark couldn’t ignite, couldn’t inflame, and couldn’t fabricate—but could only find.
Taste the darkness that seeps in cold at the corners and stains a thousand souls that feel all alone. Wait in the cosmic dark, inhale the black of an endless universe, stare into it and feel the darkness get darker.
“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark,” wrote the American astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan.
That kind of loneliness can envelope you in a loud room full of voices, when you stand at the window and watch the dusk thicken, when you turn out the last light.
To cross even the vast blackness of the Milky Way alone would take one hundred thousand years, traveling at the blurring speed of light.
Right now you are under a roof, in a country, on a continent, near an ocean, on a planet—a pinpoint of a planet, a spinning orb waiting in the dark, waiting in the ache of Advent.
You, us all, this speck on a speck, floating in a ray of light, on a pale blue dot suspended in the lonely blackness of space.
You can sit in the dark and feel the reverberating echo of Carl Sagan’s words through our impossible emptiness, like a blaring headline for the world: “In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
That is what one of our wise men decreed to us who are living, walking, dying in the darkness—that there’s “no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
No hint of help. No rumor of relief. No sign of saving. For us waiting through the night, waiting through the dark.
The message of Christmas is that this world’s a mess and we can never save ourselves from ourselves and we need a Messiah.
And then . . . there it comes to the waiting, to the leaning, to the cold—a dawn! Light! Light!
Not mere candles wavering in the face of the black but a dawn—a dawn to crack back the black, to pry up the dark with bright shards, to peel it back and flood the cold room with light.
A light from beyond, erupting, heaving the black right back. A fire that the people walking in darkness did not set—but that they saw.
There’s coming a real light that the people in the dark couldn’t ignite, couldn’t inflame, and couldn’t fabricate—but could only find.
Christmas can only be found.
Christmas cannot be bought. Christmas cannot be created. Christmas cannot be made by hand, lit up, set out, dreamed up. Christmas can only be found.
In the crèche. In the cradling trough. In the mire and in the stench and in the unexpected—and only in the dawning of Christ.
True, Mr. Sagan, there is no “hint” that help will come from somewhere else to save us. There is a dawn in the dark, there is the JOY of unstoppable light, there is God-glory blazing.
Our God who breathes stars in the dark—He breathes Bethlehem’s Star, then takes on lungs and breathes in stable air. We are saved from hopelessness, because God came with infant fists and opened wide His hand to take the iron-sharp edge of our sins.
We are saved from our loneliness, because God is love and He can’t stand to leave us by ourselves, to ourselves.
Our God who forms and delivers the black of the heavens—He waits patient like an embryo in a womb and delivers Himself to free you. We are saved from forever pain, because God pierced the dark and came to the pinpoint of us in the universe and took the nails.
Our God who cradles whole inking galaxies in the palm of His hand, whom highest heavens cannot contain—He folds Himself into our skin, and He uncurls His newborn fingers in the cradle of a barn feeding trough . . . and we are saved from ourselves.
We are saved from our loneliness, because God is love and He can’t stand to leave us by ourselves, to ourselves.
That is the message of Christmas. The message of Christmas is not that we can make peace. Or that we can make hope, or make joy, or make love, or make light, or make gifts, or make this world save itself.
The message of Christmas is that this world’s a mess and we can never save ourselves from ourselves and we need a Messiah.
For unto us a Child is born.
And on the darkest day of the year, we sit with the knowing of it: The Light never comes how you expect it.
It comes as the unlikely and unexpected—straight into Bethlehem unlikely and the feed trough hopeless, and Christmas whispers there is always hope.
It doesn’t matter how dark the dark is; a light can still dawn.
It doesn’t matter if the world whispers, “There’s not a hint that help will come from elsewhere,” telling us that nothing will ever improve, get better, change. God favors the darkest places so you can see His light the brightest.
So there can always, even now, be joy.
And once the light of Christ shatters your dark, shadows forever flee your shadowlands. There’s no going back and living in the dark; you live in the impenetrable, safe Light of light, and Christmas never ends for you.
A Christian never stops living Christmas. True, you cannot light Christmas—because it’s Christmas that lights you.
It’s Christmas that dawns on you, and you only really believe in Christmas when you really live it.
When you light a dark world and the unexpected places with a brave flame of JOY; when you warm the cold, hopeless places with the daring JOY that God is with us, God is for us, God is in us; when you are a wick to light joy-filled hope in the dark—then you believe in Christmas.
So on the darkest day of the year — light the Advent candles. Light them, light them.
And you can see it, with every lit candle, sparks of the dawning.
Joy, Joy, JOY catching on everything.
(~ excerpted from The Greatest Gift, Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas )
Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here.
Come let Jesus touch our broken relationships & heal us & reconcile us with His PEACE.
This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, your family, will need.
December 17, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [12.17.2022]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Come along with us here because who doesn’t need a bit of good news?
Let yourself smile, be crazy inspired, laugh, love & really live the gift of this life
just a little bit more this weekend…
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer
Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer
Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer
Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer
Tobias Bjorkli – Photographerstart the weekend with a deep exhale of beauty right here
when a stranger’s kindness sparks a whole entire decade of generosity…
and these kids spend 25 days each December intentionally spreading love & kindness?
you *really* don’t want to miss this one! #bethegift
View this post on InstagramA post shared by carreen raynor (@erstwhilde)
now this right here on God, Emmanuel – simply beautiful!
< you just *HAVE* to see these jaw-dropping clouds spread over Wyoming! >
View this post on InstagramA post shared by DeborahJ.Flora~ADelightfulGlow (@adelightfulglow)
“If you were part of the cast of characters who heralded the birth of Christ, who would you want to be?”
the extravagance of how these Ukrainians are loving their people? simply OUTSTANDING
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Worship Together (@worshiptogether)
“You gave when I had nothing to give” – so. much. YES!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Beach4Art (@beach4art)
THIS! spreading beauty in unique and astonishing ways #bethegift
IT’S HERE!!!
A giant, beautiful, full-of-wonder<> e-magazine for Christmas!
As one big THANK YOU for being a part of our email family!
We are SO excited to get this beauty in your hands in time for Christmas!
Truly, GIDDY!!
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do so *HERE* so you can get the e-magazine, too!
Our SURPRISE bonus joy 100 plus pages, free e-Magazine, THE SACRED EVERYDAY, hands you some of the bonus joy we all desperately need:
Full-color, 2 page spreads of JOY! Printable sticky notes and art. Free lock screens for your phone! A family scavenger hunt during the holidays! A cookie recipe! Book recommendations! You’ll find reflections, encouragement, a POETRY TUTORIAL, and a new journaling prompt–all to still and anchor your heart and home in this season of holidays!How can we live SACRED everyday – so that our days look like:
Stillness to Know God,
Attentive to Hear God,
Cruciformity to Surrender to God,
Revelation to See God,
Examine to Return to God,
Doxology to Thank God.
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what a great read for this weekend, as we prepare for the most jolly holiday!
“The Importance of Being Jolly”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Kristin Nave | All Things Bible
(@shelovesbible)
this, THIS, is a HUGE encouragement for all of us…
God is ALWAYS working things out
“Walking through the door of pain, knowing God meets you there, alters your perspective from one of dread or despair, to one of expectancy and gratitude. For in the hard places we learn to love God more deeply, listen to God more attentively, and thank God more fervently.”
He meets us in the broken places – words for each of our hearts
sweet animals in the snow, and we’ve all got wide smiles over here!
to stir your heart and encourage your soul? THIS. WILD hope, and the promise of advent
What We Learn About Hope This Advent From the Snake
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
never underestimate the power of persistence! what an inspiration!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Bebek Hastasıyım
(@bebekhastasiyim)
Okaaaay cutie pie!! I think I’m in love too!!
< well this is just WAY TOO CUTE! >
this Kyiv bakery refuses to shut down…
and how they help and serve and keep loving in midst of hardship. astonishing!
#bethegift
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Paul Nicklen (@paulnicklen)
stunning! absolutely stunning!
“O come all you unfaithful
Come weak and unstable
Come know you are not alone
O come barren and waiting ones
Weary of praying, come
See what your God has done”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/2157050...–gather your people and fill bowls with this easy carrot soup recipe–
On The Book Stack at the Farm
Read the recent guest post from Jen Polluck Michel:
When the Only Thing You Can Do is Wait
Read the recent guest post from Katy Rose:
Shots Fired Don’t Mean We Fall (& 3 Ways to Keep Moving Forward)
Destress Your Soul This Holiday?
Tap play on the video below & come join us on the farm, as we light a candle & take a moment to hush the hurry, and intimately encounter the very real & enfolding presence of Jesus with us here, right here:
Every day, we’re inviting you to the farm to light a candle with us through a small and simple video like this one. Delivered right to your inbox, so that you don’t have to try catch it in the middle of all the noise of the internet, we’ll send it right to your quiet everyday.
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With a 2-sided option this year, you can hang these sticky notes up as your own adult Advent calendar, quietly counting the days to Christmas, and giving you the greatest Gift of all:
Spaciousness,
Non-anxiousness,
&
More of His presence,
the Prince of Peace Himself!
The Greatest Gift
(adult edition)
Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014,
NYTimes Best Seller
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift
(family edition)
Best Inspirational Book
of the Year, CBA, 2016,
NYTimes Best Seller
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift:
Best Devotional &
Gift Book of the Year, Christian Book Association, 2019
(pop-up edition 14 in. tree, 25 days of readings & advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age!)
So you don’t miss out on Jesus this year & the The Greatest Christmas.
More Resources for the Greatest ChristmasFind even more FREE printables & resources at www.thegreatestchristmas.com
Here’s a few that we think you’ll enjoy:
to Coordinate with The Greatest Gift
(use code from your book)
Download The Greatest Gift OrnamentsJesse Tree Ornamentsto Coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftColoring Pages
Download Coloring PagesColoring Ornaments
Find MORE Free Resources at TheGreatestChristmas.com
This Advent, the tried and true traditions will hold us and the new ones will ignite us and this is the truest story I know:
Cradle-to-Cross Wreath
Processed with VSCO with ss1 preset
that coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftWhen our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we can have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!
A Whole Collection of Heirloom Pieces to Help you Stay in the Story this Advent Seasontake a moment to pause? and enjoy this beautiful, peaceful place?
glory, glory, glory
“O come all you despairing
There’s rest and comfort here under the star
Love fulfilled the promise
Messiah take the crown here in my heart”
How can it be?
When we feel abandoned, alone, and ashamed,
Christ envelops us with His intimate grace, always.
So here’s the thing to remember tonight —
the light never stops coming for us, beckoning us.
That place where you feel abandoned by everyone —
is really where God has placed you to be met by Someone — Him.
That place where you feel thrown away —
is about being placed because His way of healing wholeness
is coming for you always.
You are never abandoned in a place to be forgotten —
you were placed in this place to be found.
Believe it this season: His love’s around us everywhere.
Your God refuses to give up on you.
God has not forgotten you.
God has not abandoned you.
God’s love is around you everywhere.
He comes again, always again,
Jesus whispering over everything else,
“Do not be afraid—I am with you.”
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
December 16, 2022
Shots Fired Don’t Mean We Fall (& 3 Ways to Keep Moving Forward)
I deeply love this truly beautiful soul and the way stories have grabbed Katy Rose‘s heart since childhood, and continue to compel her today. Joy despite pain, beauty from ashes–these kinds of stories have been lanterns on dark roads in her own journey and she loves the chance to pass them on to her children. Her new gorgeous book, Lilibet the Brave, The unusual childhood of an unlikely Queen, weaves together beauty and history, struggle and hope, to share an intriguing true story, while conveying what she believes to be deeply true about Christ. It’s a grace to welcome Katy to the farm’s table today…
Five years ago, I was near a breaking point.
As the mother to four young children, some birthed, some adopted, we were wrestling through heavy issues that can cling to little ones who have come from hard places. Heartbreak and fear came crashing through daily, hourly, nonstop.
Emotionally frail, my lack of strength and tenacity surprised me. I prayed for relief, and in my good moments, prayed for the wisdom to see what the Lord wanted to reveal in the suffocating haze of it all.
Early every dark morning His words through scripture anchored me.
And through the hard days, stories of His faithful followers emboldened me– women who had walked before, those who traversed trial and still declared God’s goodness. The most helpful self-help books were historical, stories of Corrie ten Boom, Darlene Diebler Rose, Gladys Alyward, and my own family members – not perfect people, but people who, in their faithfulness and service to others, pointed me to a perfect God.
One day on a road trip, I put in my earbuds and turned on a biography of Queen Elizabeth II, unfamiliar with the history of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
I was surprised when, a few chapters in, my eyes filled with tears. It was 1981 and the Queen was riding through the crowd-lined London streets leading a procession on horseback.
Suddenly, gunshots popped right in her direction, turning thousands of cheers into screams.
The Queen’s horse began to bolt, but she herself remained steady. Holding tightly to the reins, she slowed and calmed him. Police rushed in on the attacker behind her.
And astonishingly… she kept going.
She glanced back at the attacker, then turned forward, poised and collected. She completed the parade, completed the day, and completed 40 more years of unexpected attack, tragedy, and heartache, interwoven with devotion, service, and joy.
As the story played and my eyes welled up, I immediately thought–
“In the heart-wrenching war that left me weak, God was my ever-present strength.”
Flying shots don’t mean I fall.
I can keep moving forward.
He’s prepared me for these battles already, and He’s not leaving my side.
And it was absolutely true.
In the heart-wrenching war that left me weak, God was my ever-present strength.
Out of that season came a little story about young princess Elizabeth (called “Lilibet” by her family). Her imperfect life pointed me back to my perfect God.
Newsreels and articles of her persevering under fire, both literal and metaphorical, reminded me that in my own struggles, deep fears, and legitimate danger, the Lord is stronger, bigger.
Lilibet leaves a legacy of graceful commitment, unwavering dedication, and remarkable perseverance, all of which have traceable roots to her early years.
And when we find ourselves wracked with fear, wondering how to move forward, wanting to leave a legacy that points to the goodness of God–here are a few thoughts to carry with us…
Pivot WellPerhaps God actually has something better, the real plan, even though it might look hard.
There was a common theme throughout Lilibet’s childhood: things rarely went as planned. From seismic family shifts to a six-year world war, her trajectory was irreparably altered. The ability to pivot well, release bitterness, and take the next step forward became vital in order to carry on.
And here in my little home, far from London palaces, I’ve felt the deep pain of vanished plans and altered life. I’ve asked God for hope when I felt mine dangerously waning.
And I tell you this wholeheartedly:
Fewer things have been more freeing than finally coming to the place where I could say, perhaps those plans of mine weren’t best after all. Perhaps God actually has something better, the real plan, even though it might look hard. Ultimately, I can rest in His strong arms which carry me through each jarring turn. This is no bland band-aid remedy, but one of the most healing things I know.
Pursue the Beauty of a Steadfast SpiritIn scripture, God’s love for his people is called steadfast. (Psalm 118) The Bible says “steadfast love” preserves a king and upholds his throne. (Proverbs 20:28) God’s word extols steadfastness, a trait we perhaps see and live less and less these days. Sometimes the search for better produces a state of flighty discontent that neglects to go deeper.
We need not fearfully flee every trial or reject any taste of suffering. These are the things that can make our hearts beautiful and strong.
So…what does scripture say produces a steadfast heart? Trials and testing. (James 1)
If we could just believe it– we need not fearfully flee every trial or reject any taste of suffering. These are the things that can make our hearts beautiful and strong.
And for Lilibet? She lived a life marked by trials and testing, year after year. Rather than succumbing to self-pity, she kept her ultimate commitment and vision in mind. And she is known for her steadfast spirit.
…in me, you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
The true King says trouble is a given. Where will I fix my gaze? Where will I rest my heart?
Pave the Way to Bravery by Serving OthersQueen Elizabeth II was wholeheartedly committed to a life of service. Studies show that her influence and advocacy work raised over two billion dollars per year for charities, inspiring others to reach out to help as well.
When moving forward feels impossible, choose to help.
During World War II, right in the middle of all her fear and angst, she searched again and again for ways to help, from sewing socks for soldiers to actually joining the army in the end. She felt it was her duty to serve, but I believe she experienced it as her joy and comfort as well.
I’ve tested this very theory in my own life.
When anxiety mounts, fight back fear by shifting the focus. When caving inward, instead look outward.
When moving forward feels impossible, choose to help.
After all, the gospel message is one of open hearts and extended arms.
And I’m struck by the beauty in it all…that the true King who calls us to serve, who set the example with His own astonishing love, knows that, in the end, our own hearts will be changed by the gift of reaching out too.
Lilibet the Brave is a gorgeous true, historical story of a young girl, who unexpectedly became a princess, who tried to serve and love large.
As a writer and Fine Artist trained in psychology and art, Katy Rose seeks to bring depth and meaning to each project.
A lifelong love of history and stories, combined with a passion for parenting and discipleship fuels her love of creating books that touch both the minds and hearts of children.
Having worked in domestic violence prevention in NYC, as a foster parent, and now as an art teacher for trafficking survivors, Katy knows how real the darkness can be, compelling her all the more to share the light of Christ. She’s lived on remote islands, in far-off cities, and currently, on a cul-de-sac with her wonderful husband and four fantastic children.
Lilibet the Brave (End Game Press) brings history to life as readers follow the young princess faced with war. She resolves to make it through bravely, discovering that it’s often by serving others that we feel bravery grow within ourselves. And this is the way of the Christ-follower, following after the true King: reaching out to help, even when it’s hard. This is a book for every brave young girl’s library.
December 13, 2022
When the Only Thing You Can Do is Wait
Like many of us who are trying to balance life’s competing responsibilities, Jen Pollock Michel has been a longtime reader of time management books. She thought that time was something to spend or to waste, to make and to manage. As she chronicles in her new book In Good Time, she’s learned that’s not the story of time that the Bible is telling. No, the hours are God’s to give—and ours to receive with gratitude, offer back with praise. As Moses reminds us in Psalm 90, we don’t need to hack time but rather ask God for his wisdom to live our brief lives well. It is a grace to welcome Jen to the farm’s table today…
Guest Post by Jen Pollock Michel
Endurance is the word I meditate on, when I travel to Ohio—last winter—to help my mother and stepfather move into a larger apartment. My stepfather, 88, has come home from a five-day hospital stay, and the compressor of his new oxygen tank, along its snaking cord, are making it difficult to navigate their cramped one-bedroom.
A change is needed—and I am needed to help them make it.
I am generally good in moments like these: when tasks are screaming, when the clock is ticking, when what is needed is furious motion. There is a thrill in getting things done.
On the trip, I take with me an Ecclesiastes commentary my friend has recommended. Living Life Backward by David Gibson proves to be a fitting companion for these long days of sorting and packing and watching my stepfather immobile and downcast in his wheelchair. It’s not hard, during this week, to remember the vanity of human life.
On the one hand, I am productive during my five-day visit. On the other, productivity, as I am learning, is not always a virtue. During this visit, productivity is certainly not the same thing as kindness. Because while I am busy and hard-working, I am also growing increasingly frustrated with my mother for her incapacity to be of meaningful help. A woman overhears my loud irritation at one point when the door to my mother’s apartment stands open. Later, in the elevator, she reminds me my mother is “a very kind lady.”
“It’s what makes waiting almost impossibly hard—because it requires us to believe God is acting even when we are not.“
Productivity is not a solution to this “problem.” I work hard—but I do not fix this situation. My mother is still forgetting things in short spans of time. My stepfather is still physically declining. Even a long visit to the bank doesn’t untangle the complicated financial matters I had hoped to help with.
“Do not be surprised to find yourself in a frustrating situation from which you cannot escape by means of controlling it,” I read in Gibson’s commentary, sitting at the kitchen table one morning. “Not everything can be fixed! Not everything is a problem to be solved. Some things must be borne, must be suffered and endured.”
It is hard, of course, to admit our powerlessness.
It’s what makes waiting almost impossibly hard—because it requires us to believe God is acting even when we are not.
Israel learned the promise of waiting on the shores of the Red Sea—in the moments before God’s wind drove a dry path through the water: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Exodus 14:13, 14). Israel’s story reminds us that waiting is not always inaction or excuse. Waiting can be a profound act of trust in God’s timing.
“Waiting is a furnace for endurance.“
Nothing, I begin to think, is wasted in waiting. No, this is where faith is put together, limb by limb. Waiting is a furnace for endurance. Waiting may seem unproductive, but it is like the careful cultivation of a vineyard.
Endure isn’t the meaning I had initially seen in the familiar passage, John 15, where Jesus compares himself to a vine, his followers to vine branches. Abide in me, he urges his disciples, according to the ESV and the RSV, two popular translations of the Bible. Remain in me, he says according to the NIV translation, as I also remain in you.
As I read further, arriving at verse 16, I begin to see another meaning beyond abiding as a quiet act of contemplation: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,” (John 15:16). What seems clear here is the sense of fruit enduring and persevering.
Waiting, in other words.
Endurance is a virtue exercised in the time we cannot control or manage. It is mettle formed by heat. Endurance is the capacity to wait and wait out: to remain, rest, persevere, and abide. It is a virtue made necessary in a world that resists repair and restoration.
“Endurance is not the virtue of productivity but of hope.“
Endurance is not the virtue of productivity but of hope.
The Bible assures us that God is waiting, too. “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you” (Isaiah 30:18). This is a promise I find myself clinging to—in the months of grief following my January visit—after my stepfather’s death, my mother’s dementia diagnosis, and our family’s move to be closer to her.
“In a very deep sense,” says Fleming Rutledge, “the entire Christian life in this world is lived in Advent, between the first and second comings of the Lord, in the midst of the tension between things the way they are and things the way they ought to be.” Advent is the in-between time, and what’s needed for waiting, I begin to think, isn’t knowledge—but strength, even strength of hope.
Persevere in me, as I persevere in you. If you endure in me, and my words endure in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Waiting is one necessary habit of trusting God’s good time.
Have you ever imagined a life without hurry, relentless work, multitasking, or scarcity? A life that is characterized instead by presence, attention, rest, rootedness, fruitfulness, and generosity? In her fifth book, In Good Time: Reimagining Productivity, Resisting Hurry, and Practicing Peace, Jen Pollock Michel invites you to disentangle your priorities from our modern assumptions and instead ground them in God’s time. Then she shows you how to establish 8 life-giving habits that will release you from the false religion of productivity so you can develop a grounded, healthy, life-giving relationship with the clock.
Jen Pollock Michel is an award-winning author and speaker. She holds a B.A. in French from Wheaton College, an M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University, and is working to complete an M.F.A from Seattle Pacific University. You can follow Jen on Twitter and Instagram @jenpmichel and subscribe to her Monday letters at jenpollockmichel.com. Jen lives in Cincinnati with her family. If you’re interested to join Jen’s 4-session rule of life Zoom workshop in January, where a cohort of people will gather to articulate ways to “pattern their lives in faithful response to God’s voice,” you can register here until midnight, December 16. You can learn more about what a rule of life is from Jen’s Substack here and here and here.
[Our humble thanks to Baker Books for their partnership in today’s devotion]
December 10, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [12.10.2022]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Come along with us here because who doesn’t need a bit of good news?
Let yourself smile, be crazy inspired, laugh, love & really live the gift of this life
just a little bit more this weekend…
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Jacqui Wakelam – Photographer
Jacqui Wakelam – Photographer
Jacqui Wakelam – Photographer
Jacqui Wakelam – Photographerhttps://www.instagram.com/jacquiwakelam/?hl=en
Jacqui Wakelam – Photographer– now this is just a bit of winter glory right here! –
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Shelby Guest (@_shelbyguest)
< make SURE you scroll to that very last slide! what a King! >
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ryan Pernofski (@ryanpernofski)
– oh to always see God lighting the way as the waves keep coming –
now this is just one of the BEST stories we’ve heard! who know THIS could be a whole ministry?!
truly AMAZING. #bethegift
For moms-young and old-for givers everywhere…
These words are for you. Don’t miss them.
You are seen. You are heard. You are loved. You are wanted. Always.
Linger a moment with this one – this is deeply powerful
“Prince of Peace rule over me, Prince of Peace reign“
A giant, beautiful, full-of-wonder<> e-magazine for Christmas!
As one big THANK YOU for being a part of our email family!
We are SO excited to get this beauty in your hands in time for Christmas!
Truly, GIDDY!!
And if you’re not already signed up for emails,
do so *HERE* so you can get the e-magazine, too!
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Full-color, 2 page spreads of JOY! Printable sticky notes and art. Free lock screens for your phone! A family scavenger hunt during the holidays! A cookie recipe! Book recommendations! You’ll find reflections, encouragement, a POETRY TUTORIAL, and a new journaling prompt–all to still and anchor your heart and home in this season of holidays!How can we live SACRED everyday – so that our days look like:
Stillness to Know God,
Attentive to Hear God,
Cruciformity to Surrender to God,
Revelation to See God,
Examine to Return to God,
Doxology to Thank God.
Click right here to join our email family!& get the gift of our latest Sacred Everyday–100 pages of beauty & goodness— delivered right to your inbox! Post Of The Week From Around These Parts
The holy days always
find a way,
because they are about The Way Himself finding a way to actually be with us.
This is not poetic cliche.
This is cosmic reality.
The relief of the holidays is:
You don’t even have to come, all you faithless and tearful and hopeless, because He finds the Way to come to you. If you’re weary of the way things never seem to change, if you’re tired of trying to make your way through, Christmas is for you, because The Way comes to you.
When Your Holidays Need to Find a Way:
Why the Withness of God Really Matters
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Dog (@goodnewsdog)
what this teacher did? absolutely stunning!! #bethegift
– gather the kiddos ’round for this one! wide smiles over here for this nativity reenactment –
“He sees in us what nobody else sees and nobody else can see because he looks beyond who we are to what we will be.”
What He sees and how He sees us is most important of all.
these! beautiful reminders on strength.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sopha Rush—motherhood & marriage (@sopharush)
The caption on this one. Yes!! God chooses us over and over and over again.
< great tips on how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. how we can care for the poor this Christmas >
#bethegift
just so very beautiful!
Post of the Week From Around These Parts
Hey, you just really aren’t alone, so only read if everything’s not all perfect in your life, & you’re kinda longing to get into the real Christmas Spirit… especially since life’s sorta tender & hard. This is for you:
Read the full post here, & feel your heart exhale
my word! how God so perfectly orchestrated this State Trooper to save this wee babe’s life?
Help can come in so many ways – what this young, homeless nursing student was absolutely not expecting. WOW.
“It’s because of the cross
I can say that I’m safe in your mercy
I still believe
That you’re coming down and looking after me”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Launching Deeper (@launchingdeeper)
< God’s peace… what a gift! >
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Gigi Becker (@gretchylolly)
a moment of stillness you didn’t know you needed…
On The Book Stack at the Farm
Read the recent guest post from Denise Hughes:
Finding Sanctuary in the Light
Read the recent guest post from Sally Clarkson:
How to Give Our Kids of Any Age the Gift of God’s Grace in Words
Destress Your Soul This Holiday?
Tap play on the video below & come join us on the farm, as we light a candle & take a moment to hush the hurry, and intimately encounter the very real & enfolding presence of Jesus with us here, right here:
Every day, we’re inviting you to the farm to light a candle with us through a small and simple video like this one. Delivered right to your inbox, so that you don’t have to try catch it in the middle of all the noise of the internet, we’ll send it right to your quiet everyday.
To get this visual experience and join us on the farm every day, simply be sure you are subscribed to our email family, so you don’t miss out on any of the daily videos, along with all the beautiful and completely FREE gifts we’ve created for you this Christmas.
JOIN OUR EMAIL FAMILY & WE WILL SEND YOU AN ADVENT VIDEO OF BEAUTY & STILLNESS, RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX EVERY MORNING And when you join…you get exclusive access to our “Spacious, Non-Anxious Christmas” page, full of free gifts and daily de-stress videos:
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With a 2-sided option this year, you can hang these sticky notes up as your own adult Advent calendar, quietly counting the days to Christmas, and giving you the greatest Gift of all:
Spaciousness,
Non-anxiousness,
&
More of His presence,
the Prince of Peace Himself!
The Greatest Gift
(adult edition)
Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014,
NYTimes Best Seller
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift
(family edition)
Best Inspirational Book
of the Year, CBA, 2016,
NYTimes Best Seller
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift:
Best Devotional &
Gift Book of the Year, Christian Book Association, 2019
(pop-up edition 14 in. tree, 25 days of readings & advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age!)
So you don’t miss out on Jesus this year & the The Greatest Christmas.
More Resources for the Greatest ChristmasFind even more FREE printables & resources at www.thegreatestchristmas.com
Here’s a few that we think you’ll enjoy:
to Coordinate with The Greatest Gift
(use code from your book)
Download The Greatest Gift OrnamentsJesse Tree Ornamentsto Coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftColoring Pages
Download Coloring PagesColoring Ornaments
Find MORE Free Resources at TheGreatestChristmas.com
This Advent, the tried and true traditions will hold us and the new ones will ignite us and this is the truest story I know:
Cradle-to-Cross Wreath
Processed with VSCO with ss1 preset
that coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftWhen our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we can have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!
A Whole Collection of Heirloom Pieces to Help you Stay in the Story this Advent SeasonI know, there’s one hundred things on the to-do list-
but pause a moment? Take a seat, and a deep breath. Enjoy the beauty and peace of this season…
“O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
For He alone is worthy
Sing of the Good News
The heavens have opened
Let all creation praise You!”
[from our Facebook community–join us?]
…we light the Peace Candle, and it comes that Peace like a river keeps attending your way
and it doesn’t matter one iota what’s in the way —
and I mean: whatever boulders of crushing burden,
whatever stones of exhausting stress,
whatever fallen trees of shaming fallenness—
Nothing can dry up that river of peace coming for all of us.
When there seems to be no way —
Peace like a river attends to your way,
and that peace like a river will carve through rock,
and that river will make a road through canyons,
and that river will water what is withered & worries & waiting.
Because He who is the head of all things is the headwaters of Peace like a river,
so no matter what is going on, Peace will keep flowing on, to carry you on Home.
So sitting now, in the light of the Advent Peace Candle,
and knowing it like your heart’s burst into flame:
Peace isn’t a place, Peace is a Person.
Peace isn’t somewhere you have to claw your way to,
something you have to make a beeline escape for,
or some place you have to save up for a vacation at.
Peace is Someone who is the Source Who keeps you safe —
like running water keeping you alive.
So in the the PACE of the season, feel it now,
this making S P A C E for Emmanuel — to find PEACE in the soul.
Worry is belief gone wrong because we don’t believe that God will get it right.
Peace is belief that exhales, because we believe that God’s provision is everywhere, like air.
And we breathe. And believe.
And let the relief of Him running everything run over you,
washing the worry away.
Peace is coming, it is Advent and He is coming, coming, the river coming to keep you afloat.
Rest & give way & let go & let the current of His love carry you even now.
Peace like a river comes to attend to your soul in this very moment.
Feel this. Believe this.
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
December 9, 2022
When Your Holidays Need to Find a Way: Why the Withness of God Really Matters
The Farmer and I are somewhere on an wide-open highway in the early days of Advent when I catch the phrase sprawled across a billboard:
The holidays always
find a way.
*
But what sticks with me long after the billboard blurs by is the reality that:
The holy days always
find a way,
because they are about The Way Himself finding a way to actually be with us.
This is not poetic cliche.
This is cosmic reality.
Resource: Manger and Nativity
Resource: Manger and Advent Wreath
This is what I keep thinking about for days:
The holy days always find a way, to do more than find some way to just get through, or just get by, or somehow just get that gift under the tree, or just get us back in touch with the people and relationships and memories and all that ultimately matters.
The holidays always find a way…
only because they’re about God finding a way to be with us, and life in His presence is our actual way of being whole.
The relief of the holidays is:
You don’t even have to come, all you faithless and tearful and hopeless, because He finds the Way to come to you. If you’re weary of the way things never seem to change, if you’re tired of trying to make your way through, Christmas is for you, because The Way comes to you.
You don’t even have to come, all you faithless and tearful and hopeless, because He finds the Way to come to you. If you’re weary of the way things never seem to change, if you’re tired of trying to make your way through, Christmas is for you, because The Way comes to you.
God Himself sets aside the glory of heaven to get inside the grit of humanity, left the status of heaven to be with all of us hurting — and ultimately the Spirit of Christmas is about leaving everything privileged, to be with everyone pining for hope.
Like the Christ Child did for us.
Some have faith in the mind-blowing impossible, that God of the universe came as a little baby …
Others have faith in the the mind-blowing impossible, that the whole of the universe came from a Big Bang….
Choose which mind-blowing impossible will blow the door of your heart wide-open with an explosion of Love.
We all get to choose our own mind-blowing faith… because we all, without exception, have faith of one kind or other —- but only one kind of faith turns toward His very real arms reaching to hold us, to be with us.
That’s the gift of the holy days —- the holy days always find a way …. a way for us to find we are in the only place that matters, the place where we get to feel the Withness and Witness of God.
And wholeness in our souls is about feeling the very Withness of God — not just merely, cerebrally, knowing about it.
Some have faith in the mind-blowing impossible, that God of the universe came as a little baby …Others have faith in the the mind-blowing impossible, that the whole of the universe came from a Big Bang….Choose which mind-blowing impossible will blow the door of your heart wide-open with an explosion of Love.
I keep returning to this, when I feel the flooding rush of angst about lists that keep endlessly morphing and mushrooming and mountaining, when I look at the calendar and see that square, just before Christmas, looming larger for our daughter’s heart surgery — and I pause in the moment and ask my soul:
Do you actually feel how Emmanuel, the God who is with you, is firm, solid love under you, never going anywhere?
Do you actually feel how Emmanuel, God who is with you, is steeled certainty at your back, always holding you, all your sureness, all your strength, all your spine and courage?
Do you actually feel how Emmanuel, God who is with you, is muscled safe arms right under yours, Love enfolding around you, shielding you, upholding you, carrying you like swaddled hope next to the assuring, steadying beat of His heart?
Christmas proves the point:
Emmanuel, the God who is with us, doesn’t stay some lofty idea in the upper echelons of philosophy, a notion in our noggin, but Emmanuel, God who is with us, takes on a body, comes embodied, feels what it’s like to be one of us, so we can feel in our bodies the safe relief of Him being here, right here, with us, being our way for us.
The carols play, the candle light flickers around nativities… and, in the midst of everything, we pause to sit with our souls:
Is my experience of the withness of God merely a knot of knowing stuck in a rut at the back of my head — or do I feel the sureness of His withness, the breadth and expanse of His presence enveloping all of me in this moment, spreading right across the whole of me, fully feeling the safe sureness of His withness under me and around me and in me?
We don’t fully know the Withness of God in our life —— until we fully feel the Withness of God in our body.
Within our body is where our trauma lives, our fears live, our thoughts live, our angst lives. If we don’t feel the withness of God actually within us… we actually aren’t experiencing the transformative power of what it means that God is with us.
Because it’s His withness that changes our whole life experience.
“In the thin air of Advent, you may not even know how to say it out loud: “I thought it would be easier.”
And your God comes near: I will provide the way.
You may not even know who to tell: “I thought it would be different.”
And your God draws close: I will provide grace for the gaps.
You may not even know how to find words for it: “I thought I would be . . . more.”
And your God reaches out: I will provide Me.
God gives God. That is the gift God always ultimately gives.
Because nothing is greater and we have no greater need, God gives God.
God gives God, and we only need to slow long enough to unwrap the greatest Gift with our time: time in His Word, time in His presence, time at His feet…. Time with Him.”
– excerpt from The Greatest Gift
The holy days always
find a way —-
to simply feel the gift of His presence.
Resource: Manger and Nativity
Resource: Manger and Advent Wreath
Back on a farm far from wide-open highways, The Farmer and I light a candle mid-Advent and we sit close by the fire.
And it kindles within…
Christmas isn’t just a warm feeling within us…
Christmas is about feeling within us how God Himself is with us.
And the flame blows lower and our love burns higher.
***
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December 8, 2022
How Your Little Charlie Brown Christmas Is the Best Christmas Spirit of All (About Fear, Heartbreak & Hard Families)
There’s a bunch of kids here, sloshy with hot-chocolate, who just keep playing a Charlie Brown Christmas.
And yeah, I’m not ashamed — so what if it took me a few takes of watching to finally get it?
Because when I finally saw it, I was entirely taken:
Only when Linus retells the Christmas story and repeats what the angel announces, “Fear not!” — does Linus drop his blanket for the first time.
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: 40% off
And I choke it back and swig down more of my frothy, chocolatey mug.
The first message of Christmas is “fear not.” The birth of Jesus — banishes our fears.
The first message of Christmas is “fear not.”
The birth of Jesus — banishes our fears.
Maybe the Christmas Spirit is always about letting go of our security blankets.
Maybe the Christmas Spirit is always about letting go of the security of masquerading perfection — to be secure in a perfect Messiah who saves us from our mess.
Because the Spirit of Christmas releases us from the fear of scarcity — and gives us the security of abundance.
Moves us from the fear of not enough grace, not enough means, not enough us —- to the security of more than enough to give — because we’ve been given Him.
“We talk glibly of the “Christmas spirit,” rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But . . . [the Christmas Spirit] ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of Him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas,” writes the fine man of the Old Book, J.I. Packer.
“It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians… go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord’s parable, seeing human needs all around them, but averting their eyes and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit…
For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor––spending and being spent––to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others — and not just their own friends —– in whatever way there seems need.” J.I. Packer
The Christmas Spirit is about having the same spirit of Christ.
The Christmas Spirit isn’t about getting gifts — as much getting to be the Gift.
‘For God so loved the world — He gave.’ Love lives given.
Be the Gift of grace, of peace, of hope, of reconciliation.
Maybe the Christmas Spirit is letting go of the security of being right, the security of being distant, the security of holding certain people at arm’s length.
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: 50% off
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: 40% off 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/2157050...Once, on a Christmas evening, under this comforting blanket of stars poking through the dark, I threw open the door of our beat-up Ford and I took that first step toward a door that had been long shut, and it felt terrifying and terribly freeing, and maybe we only win our battles when we lose our need to be right.
I hadn’t been there in years. I have no idea how long it had been since her and I had talked with any kind of warmth.
The Christmas Spirit is about having the same spirit of Christ. Love lives given.
Every slow step toward her door, the snow crunched, like bitterly cold things that have long stung, could be crushed, giving way to amazing grace.
But if He can take a journey of a million light years to meet us in the stench of our manger mires — to make peace with us —we can take one step & make peace across the aisle, the street, the table.
I’m telling you —
Sometimes you want to turn your back when a relationship gets hard — but you want to face freedom more.
Sometimes you want to continue your cold war — but you want to be part of peace on earth and in your heart more.
Sometimes every step toward peace with someone — is a journey of a million heartaches within you.
But if He can take a journey of a million light years to meet us in the stench of our manger mires — to make peace with us —-we can take one step after another and make peace across the aisle, the street, the table.
I knocked kinda feeble on her door, willing the other hand holding a gift for her not to stiffen so tense, and she opened that door and sometimes when we break into a smile, some of the pain breaks, and we breathe.
Angels still speak — and to us:
Do not fear — even here.
You can let go of the security blankets — because He who comes, makes you secure.
I reached out my arms — and this woman I’d had a tender relationship with, she reached out hers.
And it can happen: That Big Dipper tips over all of us and pours out the Christmas Spirit, and our spirits can come home for Christmas.
She handed me a plate of her pecan pie and we talked by the tree and it wasn’t Hallmark perfect but it was perfectly honest and imperfectly real and all tasted like a slice of heaven to me and I could feel it:
Maybe the Christmas Spirit is letting go — to let the Spirit move.
Maybe the Christmas Spirit — is about letting the Spirit heal you.
Maybe the Christmas Spirit —- means: Reconcile for Christmas.
The Greatest Gift: 50% off 
I exhaled when I wrote it on a piece of paper here, taped it up over the little Christmas tree right there at the sink, and it felt like a kind of healing:
“Let go of Plan A — Go with “Plan Be.”
Fear not! Even now, it’s okay to let go of the security blankets — and go with “Plan Be.”
Plan Be — lets other people just be.
When you let other people just be — and don’t try change even one of their heart beats — you become a safe place for your people. And your people can safely come home for Christmas. The Spirit of Christmas is about letting His Spirit do the changing — in all the people and us.
Simply asking how someone’s heart really is — is the gift every heart really wants most.
Plan Be — chooses to simply Be Present.
Plan Be — chooses to simply Be Present.
Be present—& fear not.
This is the gift you can have any moment.
Be present to the moment as it is, to people as they are, to God with us now, Emmanuel.
Be present — and fear not. This is the gift you can have any moment.
Be present to broken hearts — because this is how you give your heart to Jesus.
The kids and I wrap up presents for those who live across fences, across aisles, across the world. The Christmas spirit only asks you to Be Present. Give yourself the gift of God.
Steam rises from hot chocolate mugs before the fire.
Live Plan Be: Be Present — Be the Gift.
We could all come home to each other for Christmas.
Heard the weather forecast this morning say they’re calling for a white Christmas.
Let it be, let it be, let it be.
What more could any of us want than a little Charlie Brown Christmas of letting go?
To let God come.
***
BONUS JOY! OVER 100 PAGES, in our Christmas Edition Digital MAGAZINE, dropping tomorrow!
Join the List & our email family, & it’s our greatest joy to send you all the BONUS JOY of this e-mag with:
Christmas stories from the Farm with gorgeous 2 page photo spreadsChristmas inspiration, beauty, peace and practical toolsChristmas Recipes Christmas journaling prompts Christmas gift tags, frameable prints, and exclusive, bonus, joy, joy, joy!December 6, 2022
Finding Sanctuary In The Light
As the rush of the holiday season begins, we can easily feel pulled in many different directions. Family relationships, financial strain, or even grief can overwhelm us. Today, Denise Hughes testifies to the Light that’s found in Christ, even amidst the realities of living in a dark world, and she encourages us to find our sanctuary in him, through every season of life. It is a grace to welcome Denise to the farm’s table today…
Guest Post by: Denise J. Hughes
One of my favorite things to do at Christmastime is turn off all the main lights, sit on my couch,
and watch the string of lights twinkling on my tree.
Light.
If I were to describe the signature decoration for Christmas it would be light. Not red tinsel or green mistletoe. Not gold ornaments or silver snowflakes. But light. Everywhere. Inside and out. Piercing the darkness. Shining in the night.
“Because every light tells a story, and it’s a story every soul needs.”
Because every light tells a story, and it’s a story every soul needs.
When the year has been longer and darker than we ever could have imagined, we need light.
When the unspoken losses have painted the year with a pain that’s palpable, we need light.
When isolation and loneliness have pressed in so deep that it’s hard to breathe, we need light.
“We may not know how to tell someone that… what we really need is hope.“
And when the people we love most have been taken from us, we fiercely and desperately need light.
For some of us, there is one less stocking to hang on the fireplace, one less plate to set at the table. And the ache we feel makes this time of year, with all its expectations of “Christmas cheer,” just plain hard.
For others of us, we can go through the motions, exchange the gifts, and eat the cookies, but somewhere deep inside, we need something more, and we may not know how to tell someone that, when the holiday movies end and the happy jingles fade, what we really need is hope.
As much as the Christmas season brings jolly ho-ho-hos, it’s also a season that reminds us of those losses that still feel fresh, no matter how many years have passed.
And we need light to dispel the darkness inside us and around us.
If that’s you this Christmas, I want you to know you’re not alone. Christmas can be challenging precisely because it’s a poignant reminder of all that’s been lost. Your sorrow is not imagined. Your loss is real. And I am so sorry.
“in the midst of suffocating darkness, is where the Story of Light shines the brightest.”
While sitting on my couch at night, with only the tree lighting up the room, I remember a season when a sadness settled deep within me. And I discovered the hard way that sadness is never stagnant. When left unattended, it has a way of twisting into despair, casting a shadow over everything.
But there, in the midst of suffocating darkness, is where the Story of Light shines the
brightest.
Consider the blaze of light that has pulsed throughout all of history. In the beginning, there was a vast darkness. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:1-5). Just like that. His spoken word separated the light from the darkness.
“It’s no coincidence that Jesus was born in the dark of night with a new star shining brightly overhead. The Light of the World had come.”
And God has continued to separate light from darkness ever since. When the first man and woman rebelled, darkness entered their hearts, and that darkness has been passed on to every generation. But God made a Promise that one day an eternal Light would enter the world, and this Light would overcome Darkness, once and for all (Genesis 3:15; John 1:1-5).
As the years passed, believers in the Promise looked for the Light. Then one night, a new star lit up the blackened sky, pointing to the Promise born. Wealthy men traveled from the East while poor shepherds came in from the fields. Rich and poor alike, they came to see the Promised Light — a tiny baby, entrusted to a teenage girl and a simple man (Matthew 1:24-25; 2:1-2; Luke 2:8-16).
It’s no coincidence that Jesus was born in the dark of night with a new star shining brightly overhead.
The Light of the world had come.
And now, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas with the gift of hindsight, and obviously, the world has done its level best to mix a lot of loud commercialism into what was originally the celebration of the birth of Christ. Christmas nowadays can be one of the noisiest times of the year with all its jingling bells and crowded shopping malls.
Add to this the pressure of trying to put on a happy smile, when deep inside we’re really hurting, and we’re left with a heart that’s longing for sanctuary in a loud and restless world — a world that blasts us with memes and themes that go against the grain of our souls.
I once read a meme that said: “Having a religion is fine, as long as you don’t tell other people how to live.” This meme reduced “religion” to a rulebook — a list of dos and don’ts.
Except Christianity is not a religion of dos and don’ts; it’s the Story of Light coming to drive out the darkness. And we all need the Light.
“I know it wasn’t a list of rules that saved me. It was the Light of the World who
dispelled the darkness inside me. “
Sitting in my living room, with a warm plush wrapped around me and the tree lights sparkling in front of me, I know it wasn’t a list of rules that saved me.
It was the Light of the World who dispelled the darkness inside me. His name is Jesus. I invite you to try talking to him. He’s not an imaginary, fictitious being. He’s a real person.
You can tell Him all about the darkness you’re dealing with, and you can ask Him to drive it away. He’ll do it, too. It’s what He loves to do.
I’m not saying He’ll make your life all rosy and cheery. But He will fill you with His Light, and a newfound Hope will be yours forever. And no power in hell can ever take it away from you.
This is why we celebrate Christmas and decorate with light. To know it again in our bones, in all our weary hearts — that the Light has come.
And we find sanctuary for our souls when we rest in the God of light.
Denise J. Hughes is the author of Sanctuary: Cultivating a Quiet Heart in a Noisy and Demanding World, a 31-day devotional that helps women find true peace in Christ among the busyness, noise, and pressures of life.
As an English teacher, Denise loves to teach books, where life and literature connect, but her favorite book to teach is the one Book with living words. Denise enjoys quiet days at home in North Carolina with her husband, three nearly grown kids, and two pups who are convinced they’re humans with paws.
It’s the perfect time of year to come sit with: Sanctuary: Cultivating a Quiet Heart in a Noisy and Demanding World,
{ Our humble thanks to The Good Book for their partnership in today’s devotion}
December 3, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [12.3.2022]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Come along with us here because who doesn’t need a bit of good news?
Let yourself smile, be crazy inspired, laugh, love & really live the gift of this life
just a little bit more this weekend…
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Chris Burkard – Photographer
Chris Burkard – Photographer
Chris Burkard – Photographer
Chris Burkard – Photographer
Chris Burkard – Photographer< this winter glory is a feast for the eyes! >
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ann Voskamp (@annvoskamp)
– encouragement for your heart this weekend –
feeling distracted by all the tinsel?
might you this season embrace the stillness and quietness before the Lord.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Chelsea Papa🍊 (@circlegrove)
well isn’t this just the sweetest thing you’ve seen all week?! < heart swell >
if you’re having trouble counting gifts this season – read this!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Dog (@goodnewsdog)
community is out there–don’t be afraid to be brave and find it
“We who walk in darkness deep
Now see the light of morning
The Mighty God, the Prince of Peace
A child to us is born“
Okay, honestly — there are days at the beginning of Advent that I dare ask:
Is the Light really coming when we’re all living with busted relationships, when time’s ticking loud & parts of our hearts have soundlessly detonated, when lament is the dialect of every honest Advent?
If parts of your life are waiting for the Light, is parts of your Advent feel like a lament, you aren’t alone & my heart literally leaps with hope over this:
The Laments of Advent:
When It Doesn’t Feel Like the Light’s Coming Fast Enough
< this might just be the sweetest thing to come from an accidental text message >
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
oh what contagious joy! all smiles over here!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Hope Rises Network (@hoperisesnetwork)
oh what this boy to love, to serve? sheer delight!
#BeTheGift
the holidays can be so festive and conversations can be so hard.
How about some encouragement for those hard conversations?
this podcast is *well* worth a listen – on trees, space, community, and experiencing the presence of Christ—
a conversation with Andrew Peterson
Kristen Welch and I are sorta, kinda, soul sisters? As I’ve served on the board of directors of the ministry Kristen founded, Mercy House Global, and we daily serve together to dream up for you the best #FAIRTRADE beauty of The Grace Flame and The Grace Case that 100% supports the Kenyan maternity homes of Mercy House — so I get to see it first hand again and again, what we can all do together to change the world for women, if we say our brave yes.
Mercy House Global has provided a second chance home to more than 70 teen pregnant teens in their work to empower vulnerable families in Jesus’ name with hope and opportunity.
This month alone, five new girls between the ages of 14 and 15 have been welcomed.
Would you give your best gift today to help Mercy House Global meet urgent needs?
Read Kristen’s whole powerful post from this weekView this post on InstagramA post shared by uplift.love (@upliftconnect)
how these ones go over and above to include this amazing girl… simply inspiring! #BeTheGift
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Upworthy (@upworthy)
okay! how fun are these?!
just for fun–
how to write a Christmas card! yes!
For when the ink dries up and we can’t find the right words to write to those we love.
You know it — how the most wonderful time of year can be a really tender time of year for a whole lot of weary folks.
The unlikely, but unbelievably powerful key, to truly destressing the holidays — starts here.
Read this at the beginning of December — and change the rest of the month:
The Powerful Backstory of Your Christmas Tree-& Your Christmas-Can Truly Destress You
Read the whole story… Want to Hush all the Hurry &Destress Your Soul This Holiday?
Tap play on the video below & come join us on the farm, as we light a candle & take a moment to hush the hurry, and intimately encounter the very real & enfolding presence of Jesus with us here, right here:
Every day, beginning today and right up to Christmas Day, we’re inviting you to the farm to light a candle with us through a small and simple video like this one. Delivered right to your inbox, so that you don’t have to try catch it in the middle of all the noise of the internet, we’ll send it right to your quiet everyday.
To get this visual experience and join us on the farm every day, simply be sure you are subscribed to our email family, so you don’t miss out on any of the daily videos, along with all the beautiful and completely FREE gifts we’ve created for you this Christmas.
JOIN OUR EMAIL FAMILY & WE WILL SEND YOU AN ADVENT VIDEO OF BEAUTY & STILLNESS, RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX EVERY MORNING And when you join…you get exclusive access to our “Spacious, Non-Anxious Christmas” page, full of free gifts and daily de-stress videos:
printable art prints, greeting cards, gift tags, lock screens, and more!
AND get all 25 of our “Holiday Sticky Notes for Your Soul” as a free printable, available for you to download as part of our bundle of free gifts, with our deepest thanks for being a part of our email family.
With a 2-sided option this year, you can hang these sticky notes up as your own adult Advent calendar, quietly counting the days to Christmas, and giving you the greatest Gift of all:
Spaciousness,
Non-anxiousness,
&
More of His presence,
the Prince of Peace Himself!
The Greatest Gift
(adult edition)
Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014,
NYTimes Best Seller
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift
(family edition)
Best Inspirational Book
of the Year, CBA, 2016,
NYTimes Best Seller
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift:
Best Devotional &
Gift Book of the Year, Christian Book Association, 2019
(pop-up edition 14 in. tree, 25 days of readings & advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age!)
So you don’t miss out on Jesus this year & the The Greatest Christmas.
More Resources for the Greatest ChristmasFind even more FREE printables & resources at www.thegreatestchristmas.com
Here’s a few that we think you’ll enjoy:
to Coordinate with The Greatest Gift
(use code from your book)
Download The Greatest Gift OrnamentsJesse Tree Ornamentsto Coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftColoring Pages
Download Coloring PagesColoring Ornaments
Find MORE Free Resources at TheGreatestChristmas.com
This Advent, the tried and true traditions will hold us and the new ones will ignite us and this is the truest story I know:
Cradle-to-Cross Wreath
Processed with VSCO with ss1 preset
that coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftWhen our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we can have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!
A Whole Collection of Heirloom Pieces to Help you Stay in the Story this Advent Seasonthis might just be the soul exhale you need this weekend – grab a warm cup and sit and enjoy the beauty and stillness of God’s creation
“There’s only One strong enough to save
There’s only One who overcame the grave
There’s only One whose worthy of all praise
His name is Jesus…
His name is Wonderful Counselor,
Almighty God”
[from our Facebook community–join us?]
Advent is the last, darkest hour of the year,
and this is the season not to merely get ready for Christmas,
but to get ready for the coming of Christ.
Advent doesn’t deny the dark within us,
Advent isn’t afraid of the dark around us,
Advent doesn’t rush through the dark ahead of us,
Advent sits in the dark and yearns for the Light
of the only One who went to the Tree of Calvary,
to shatter the dark for all of us.
Advent is waiting for the One true Light —
otherwise, what we proclaim is light is actually dark,
and that is a weight no soul can bear.
Advent says the fault is not in our stars–
the fault is in how we walk in the dark and call it light.
In all these days of uncertainty,
Advent is trusting in His certain coming, and coming again:
Christ comes uninvited to the woman who feels all wrong
and He whispers that He makes all things right,
Christ comes uninvited to the prodigal running hard
and fast and He binds His heart fast to theirs,
Christ comes uninvited into the hopelessness
of our darkest places and turns on the light —
because He turns our hearts to Him.
Because the Light, it can’t be stopped, and it won’t be stopped —
and in through the broken-hearted cracks of the world,
in through all our shards —
even now, on the first Sunday of Advent,
the light comes in like a benediction.
The Light always surely coming through His rescuing Tree.
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
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