We generally associate Christmas as being a season of joy and celebration, but many of us experience deep feelings of grief and loneliness during Christmas. That grief and loneliness grows as we tell ourselves we should be feeling positive emotions instead. If that’s...
Part I - Good Gifts Like many American children, I was raised with a strong faith in Santa Claus. And this faith taught me a lesson: good behavior is rewarded with the gifts of my dreams (thanks for the Nintendo, Santa!) and poor behavior is punished by withholding...
Imagine you’re at a wedding reception. There is music, laughter, dancing, and a lot of food. You might have a cocktail hour with an appetizer course, the main course, and a dessert course. Each of these courses is part of the overall meal during the celebration. The...
We have been in the process of becoming who we are from the time we were born. Who we are today isn’t the person we were twenty years ago, or even twenty minutes ago. For better or worse, who we are, and who we are becoming, is constantly being shaped and transformed...
If you’ve ever purchased something from IKEA, chances are good you’re familiar with the term “some assembly required.” More like ALL assembly required. Yet people all over the world have embraced a little DIY if it means having a bit of trendy furniture at a fraction...
Many of Jesus’ teachings are difficult to practice. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love your enemy. These teachings and more outline what abundant living looks like here on earth for every believer in Jesus. But there’s a problem: these teachings are often...
In the Bible, we read Jesus promising to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples after He is gone. As believers in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is also with us, living inside of us, just as Jesus promised. The question is, why did Jesus send the Holy Spirit to be with us?...
Have you ever dreamed you were standing in front of a crowd in just your underwear? Feeling exposed and embarrassed is a familiar nightmare. But for the first humans in the Bible, this was a very real experience. After Adam and Eve sinned, eating from that fateful...
Have you ever received a compliment and then dismissed it or re-focused the conversation on something else? Have you ever received a Christmas gift and then felt bad because you didn’t have one to give in return? Yeah, I’ve been there. “To doubt the guarantee of...
Loneliness, like other uncomfortable emotions, is trying to teach us something. And the more we ignore it, the harder the lessons can be to learn. Here are three teachable moments I’ve found in times of loneliness.