This reflection was from three years ago, but is still very real every Christmas. I’m starting to understand Christmas as the season where Christ comes to visit you in the most unexpected ways. If you can only quiet yourself for a few days–unplug the computer, forget your cell phone, and head to the ICU of...

I am reprinting this post from this time last year. In the 2010 Oscar-winning historical film “The King’s Speech,” King George VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne and must overcome his stammer in order to speak with the authority and eloquence expected of a king. He hires Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech...

I think about Mary often this time of year. More than usual, which is a lot.   Mary loves desperate people–the ones who have already tried Jesus and, for whatever reason, didn’t get results. That’s how my mom explained it when she told me that she was going to Mary with my depression. For a...

All the Christmas movies–from the classic “Miracle on 34th Street” to “The Year Without a Santa Claus” preach a common message: faith is about believing without seeing.   In our family favorite, “Elf,” Santa’s sleigh, fueled by Christmas spirit, crashes into Central Park in New York City. In order to convince people to believe in...

The following essay is an excerpt from a wonderful little book, “The Art of Uncertainty: How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It,” by Dennis Merritt Jones. Fruit drops from the tree when it is ready. Staying too long, or moving too early, misses the mark. The mark is the appropriateness that...