All things considered, we have it pretty good.
Sometimes, we can easily get balled up in our own problems that we fail to recognize that there are many, many people who are struggling with much bigger issues and concerns.
Over the past month, I’ve been talking with a good friend just about every morning. He has a long commute, and I get up really early.
Back to the grind. I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, and that you’re now ready to tackle the challenges ahead.
My New Year’s Day was off to a great start. I had a peaceful and prayerful morning, and later a good friend came over to talk about our hopes and goals for the year ahead.
We had both established some pretty heavy-duty expectations, but at the same time we were excited to talk about them, encouraged by each other’s trust that we could indeed accomplish them.
Happy New Year! I’m so grateful to have survived 2011, and am certainly ready to launch into 2012. How about You? That being said, 2011 was a great year for Making All Things New. I received a nice little year-end summary last night from the folks at WordPress, the blogging platform I use.
Much to my amazement, this blog had hits from the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Bolivia, Columbia, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Philippines, India and Pakistan. That certainly is humbling to me, but also very exciting 🙂
Last night, I helped a friend of mine wrap what seemed like a hundred presents for his kids. He has a family tradition of wrapping each child’s gifts with the same wrapping paper, so that there’s no need for tags or confusion as to who gets what. What a smart idea, especially if there’s lots of kids around.
Anyway, I also took time to wrap the gifts I’m giving out as well. I usually dread the wrapping exercise, probably because I’m not too good at it, but last night, I had a great time. In fact, it brought a lot of joy to my heart.
Hold on. I’m not talking about the real Christmas mysteries, like the Virgin Birth, Joseph’s dream, the Wise Men, The Star.
No, I’m talking about the genre of mystery writing that revolves around some aspect of Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I love a good mystery. I get this from my mom, who loves them more than I do. Over the years, I’ve found that they provide a great stress release for me, and I’m always looking around for a new one.
Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with the strong feeling that you need to pray for someone?
It happens to me pretty regularly, and usually I wake up because I was thinking about this person as I drifted off to sleep, or maybe earlier in the day I heard about a problem they were dealing with. A quick prayer at that moment is all it takes and I’m back to a blissful sleep in a minute or two.
There are other times when I wake up and I feel like I need to pray for someone, but I don’t know who it is.
Over the last several weeks, I’ve mentioned that I’ve been teaching two courses on Spiritual Formation. It’s been a lot of fun, but with over 70 participants between both courses, it’s also been a tremendous amount of work.
As I’ve gotten to know the participants through their coursework, I’ve come to realize an important piece that’s missing from many of their lives.
That missing piece is spiritual direction, and in my responses to them, I’ve mentioned the importance of finding a spiritual director to every single person. Why?
Two experiences I had this past week are prompting this post.
On Tuesday, one of my fifth graders told me that she had a blood test done earlier that day. That prompted me to ask her why she had to have the test done. “To check my blood sugar. I have to change what I eat, because my doctor said I’m on the road to diabetes.” Wow. This girl is not obese, and to me, she appears to be just a little overweight. But diabetes runs in her family, and her doctor was concerned about the extra pounds she is carrying. Fifth grade. Ten years old.
I was listening to a cd the other day about the Advent season, and the presenter mentioned the large number of people who suffer from depression during the holiday season.
In fact, these days, which should be filled with joy, show a marked increase of suicides. How tragic.
I know. These are known as the busiest days of the year. It all starts this week, and doesn’t end until January 1st.
Most of us work too hard, and we’re not very good at slowing down. As I mentioned the other day, the majority of us spend way too much during these days, and many have lost the whole reason the Christmas season exists.
If I had a wish for the next several weeks, it would be that we would each make some time for a little retreat. Some will actually be able to get themselves to some retreat center and truly relax and refocus. Others won’t have that luxury, but that’s still o.k. They can change things up and still accomplish the mission.