In these 12 days of Christmastide, we are not primarily celebrating how Jesus came our what he would do to save us, but simply that God came.

Taking time to reflect at the birth of this other kind of new year has been better for my soul because it actually comes with Good News: All of life is a gift and a means of grace from God.

In the end, Lenten practices are about releasing what is lesser and opening your hands for a deeper, fuller experience of God’s grace.

If the fasting of Lent is meant to prepare us for the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, then the feasting of Eastertide is meant to prepare us for life in the new creation where we will experience the fullness of the never-ending abundance and joy of God’s presence.

At its core, materialism is a soul-cry for belonging. It’s a symptom of a good, God-given desire of our hearts that hasn’t found its fulfillment in Jesus. Sin always seems to work this way. | Lent 2023

A few books and practices that help me enter into this season of preparation with gentleness and an unhurried look at Jesus.

Tomorrow marks the start of the Christian New Year. But this new year comes in not with a bang, but with a groan. Not with goal setting and a good decluttering, but with deep longing.

The words of Jesus cut through our native tongue of fear, offering us a new language of hope, not outside of, but right in the midst of our fears.

Yet this day of ash and repentance and bread and wine speaks to my soul that though I am fatally limited, I am also infinitely loved. And so I bear the ashy cross on my head in humility and sorrow but also in hope, for it is not the dirt that will have the final word, but the precious blood of Christ.

During the season of Epiphany, we remember that just as God revealed his glory, goodness, and light by a star to guide the Wise Men to the feet of Christ, our lives also shine his light, reflect his love, and hold out his hope to the weary in a dark world.