To Care and Not to Care

It's hard to pick out the "highlights" of this year, so I thought I'd write an ode to the year. It's all a bit of a blur, but here we all are. Ben and I, Amos (who just turned 5) and Nathanael (who just turned 3). Lindsay, our housemate (who just turned...j/k). At times we make the best of it, other times we don't. And that's ok. For the beauty of the earth, how she groans as if in birth. For the beauty of the skies, sparrows meet our eyes. For the love which from our birth, we are shaken into this groaning earth. For love over and around us lies over and around us lies. Our train of life comes to an abrupt halt, redirect. Where? How? Now? Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn of joyful praise. Where is this "joy" you speak of? Look for the pain, and there you'll find it. How time has alluded us, tricked us. For the beauty of the hour, of the day and of the night. Time deepens in this moment, in the great generosity of the flower, and th

December is upon us. For the most part, here in the NW, it's been clear, cold and sunny. A welcome alternative to the soggy rains we usually get. How was your November? Let's see...we had an election, and a Thanksgiving holiday to figure out how to celebrate in a Pandemic.  How hard it can be to find the light in these Shadowlands we live in. How hard it can be to keep myself tethered to Jesus when the shadows dance around me, pulling and shouting, begging me to care, to give a damn. My old, false self is tickled but my new, true self quietly reminds me to remain in the Spirit, bearing it's fruit.  I guess I sort of answered my first reflection question: Where did I see the hand of God moving in the midst of the shadows? (Thank for inspiring me Tsh Oxenreider with your beautiful  Advent book ! You might have seen this image before. It strikes me every time. What strikes me most is it's perspective. It's creator, Everett Patterson writes, " I chose very, very wi