Tag: Mary

Christmas Changes Everything

The story of our lives has more to do with what God is doing than our ability to manage it.  Gail Johnsen This is my all-time favorite quote about Christmas: “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, to conceive something. We cannot manage it. We can’t even understand it. All we ...

U

Unforced Joy

Is joy a choice or an fruit?   Yes. How often have we heard that “joy is a choice”?  Yet how often have we tried to be joyful only to discover it only lasts and long as we are trying hard to make it so.  Trying to “produce” joy through verbal confession can feel manufactured and ...

A

An Interrupted Life

God’s grace comes often in severe ways to open our eyes to a greater reality that we have yet experienced. Our part is to be open to it and let it transform us. In speaking about Mary the mother of Jesus, Craig Barnes writes, “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, ...