He is Greater.....John 3:30 says He must become greater, I must become less"

 Preface:  Often, I write as a way to care for my own sense of mental health and well-being.  Before I wrote on a blog I wrote in a journal ....but that often seemed pointless because I wrote to.....noone.  I am an infinitely relational person and it seemed so fruitless to write to myself.  I almost never re-read my own journals.  Usually I threw them away without ever looking back on them twice.....I wonder what beautiful thoughts I missed in reflection.  Conversely, I love re-reading blogs I have written.  I love it enough to read them over and over again because the words have power and purpose.....the words have not changed but the perspective has.  I now write when the Lord stirs me to.  I now write to someone.   The down side of blog writing vs. journaling is that it is public and therefore puts me and my life and my family in an incredibly vulnerable position.  I am acutely aware of this.  I have been since the...

 You know when you are scrolling down facebook and you see the photos of all those yummy recipes?  If you are in the mood they look good and if you are really hungry or really full they look really aweful.  Isn't that odd?  Lately I was in the mood and shared a bunch of warm, hearty recipes I'm sure many of you saw....one of them was a soup with smoked sausage, potato and sour kraut.  This one appealed to me for several reasons....it was wintery....hearty and warm and full of the things I like when its cold and dark outside.  Sour kraut is something I want to eat more of because it has many health benefits but I'm not super crazy about it, so I was challenged to try it in soup.  I love smoked sausage, a.k.a ring bologna.  My favorite school lunch as a child was ring bologna, tater tots, apple sauce and a chocolate chip cookie....all in seperate sections on the lunch tray.  With chocolate milk in a carton.  yum.   Tonight I made...

 I'm gonna write a bit about my monkey in the middle...my Jeremiah.  Oh how I love this boy.  Oh...   He is 17, a senior in high school and trying to figure out his version of "what's next".  We don't care, really.  He can go to school, or work....he can do trade school or university....he has so many options....and he just doesn't really know what comes next.  He lives in the moment and he feels things in big ways and he understands what matters deeply....what a blessing he is....an obnoxious, frustrating, imperfect and sometimes naughty blessing.  We don't do perfect here, folks, make no mistake.  But we do people and we do love the people we do.   Jeremiah was in a class at school called Woods.  He did Woods 1 and made some cool stuff...a box with a lid (I collect boxes so I loved this), a cutting board, a wooden spoon that I use all the time when I'm stirring things on the stove.  He had an assignment for his seni...

" Shout for joy, you Heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!  For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones."     I have spent time this month in worship, remembering God's faithfulness, and standing in awe of His plans....I have looked at the past year and remembered the hard things and the sweet and good things and as I look ahead to this new year I am on this mountain....shouting for joy and bursting in song and also yelling out as loud as I can....oh my dear ones....He will comfort you and will have comfort on your afliction.  I promise.  I promise.  I've been there.  I'm sure I will take my turn once again soon enough.  I am coming out of a season of so much hard....and am acutely aware of the suffering around me.  It prickles and tingles like static in dry air....and when we connect I feel that little shock one gets when the air is dry.  Trust me when I say...shout for joy anyw...

 You know those Lindor Truffles?  The ones that come in the pretty celophane wrappers?  They are round and sweet and soft and if you are a grown up you can fit the whole thing in your mouth and then bite down and the flavor simply spreads like yummy goodness in your mouth.  Even after the candy is gone, the taste lingers ..and there are many flavors to choose from like peppermint, caramel, white chocolate to name just a few.    I was gifted a bag of these from a sweet family I know and love.  Initially they were left on the doorstep and later, they confessed they were gonna ding dong dash me for them but decided to just drop them off instead.   This week my devotional guided me through a spritual discipline called The Examen.  The challenge was to look at 2021 and consider the highlights and the low points and to remember.  I was challenged to go month by month, starting in January and look at each month of 2021.  My initial ex...

 Well, I managed my own version of the 12 days of Christmas....imperfect as it was.  If I were to be factual I would have started December 25 and moved forward 12 days but that is not going to happen....culturally, it makes sense for all things to lead up to Christmas Day for me, as we prepare for and look to the birth of Jesus.   So here we are on the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me....twelve drummers drumming....and the clock just passed 12:00 midnight so it is officially Christmas Day.  I'm up because my sweet Josiah has a nasty croupy cough and instead of waking us both up with coughing and misery I offered to take first shift.  You see....Roger has a Christmas Day brisket out on the smoker so he will be up anyway after 3am checking the meat temps for his low and slow feast.....so he has second shift.  Hopefully Jojo can get some rest tonight.  He's had a rough few nights.  We are celebrating slower and later tomorrow with...

  The eleven pipers are said to represent the 11 faithful disciples.....meaning all of Jesus' disciples except Judas who betrayed him.  I think today, in honor of Christmas Eve I will make a list of my own 11 thoughts on generosity.   1.  One can be a gift-giver without being generous.  Generosity is a state of mind and a matter of the heart.  2.  To be generous is more than to be self-sacrificing.  3.  The world is desperately in need of more daily generous stories.  4.  Traditions are a form of generosity.  5.  Forgiveness is generous and costly but so rewarding.  6.  Yesterday I brought another carload of gifts from a giver to a receiver.  In one of the bags was a stuffed fox.  The mom told me she had decorated her child's room with a fox theme but had not been able to find very many fox toys.....so the person who shopped had definitely heard from God when she chose the fox as a gift.  7....