As someone who never gets enough sleep, my morning coffee is very important to me. I prefer to brew my coffee at home, using Starbucks ground coffee (1/2 regular, 1/2 decaf, so I can drink several cups without getting jittery), adding a scant tablespoon of half-and-half, and drinking out of one of my favorite mugs.
Wow. Here we are at the last few days of 2014.It’s been a pretty good year for me, and before we move on to 2015, I’m enjoying looking back, and making my “best of” list for 2014.
Best Book.I read a lot of books this year, and at least two very good ones: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd and All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I put the top 12 books I read this year in this Amazon widget: Continue reading
In the secular world Christmas has come and gone, but in church we are still celebrating Christmas until Epiphany on January 6th.
I love my church’s Christmas Eve service, but I’ve been struggling with going to church for the past few years. We used to all go as a family, but then my in-laws stopped visiting us for Christmas, and then my Dad passed away, and then my kids decided that they didn’t want to go church any more, even on Christmas Eve. My husband will always go with me, and my Mom, but it’s hard to sit among all the families without all of my family there. Continue reading
Happy day after Christmas! I hope you had a good day, whether you celebrated Christmas, just enjoyed a day off, or had to work so the rest of us could buy batteries, see a movie, get out of the house for dinner, or seek emergency medical care.
My day started off well when Santa brought me perfect running weather for Christmas (5oF!) and I took my new headlamp out for a test run. After 9 glorious miles I treated myself to a breakfast of cranberry upside down coffee cake and ham, followed shortly thereafter by a generous portion of peppermint bark–’tis the season! Continue reading
One of the daily readings for the global Advent calendar sponsored by The Society of Saint John the Evangelist introduced me to Anne Lamott’s book, Help Thanks Wow. It’s a powerful book based on the premise that “Help!”, “Thanks”, and “Wow!” are the three essential prayers that cover all we ever really need to say to God.
(Our church at the first week of Advent, with Angel Tree gifts at the altar)
As the children wait, they kneel at the altar rail–sometimes testing its strength as a jungle gym–and then put out their hands as it comes close to their turn. Every once in a while, a toddler or preschooler breaks the silence to express the excitement that no longer can be contained:
“Please …” to the priest approaching with the bread.
“Thank you” as the child accepts a piece of bread.
“Yay!” instead of “Amen” at the end of the post-Communion prayer.
Eternal God, heavenly Father,
you have graciously accepted us as living members
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ,
and you have fed us with spiritual food
in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage
to love and serve you
with gladness and singleness of heart;
through Christ our Lord.Amen.Yay!
The priest usually smiles as the rest of us try to stifle our laughter, but we all know that the child is right. The ceremony and symbolism of Holy Communion is special and exciting, and it deserves to be approached with awe and wonder–and even cheering.
This Christmas, I hope you experience the joy and wonder of God’s unconditional love so deeply that you can’t help but shout out, “Thank you! Yay! ”
Merry Christmas!
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
