To Be Where You Are (Mitford Years, #14)

by Jan Karon

Father Tim told him th’ other day that everybody needed three things: Somebody to love—he had Grace and her mama an’ daddy an’ Sister Louise an’ all manner of people who come in th’ bookstore. Somethin’ to do—look at th’ job he had, livin’ up here like he was ol’ Croesus hisself. An’ somethin’ to look forward to—as for that part, he had solved it by always, always keepin’ a good book underneath his candy jar.

That was the thing about Christmas, he thought. With all the joy and hope and laughter, there’s always, somewhere, the sorrow—just as there was in the manger that pointed to the cross.