Christmas Archives

A Comfort at Christmas

Christmas can have dark shadows, but what if God came close? God can provide a comfort at Christmas. As I write this, I think of someone I know that has had a death in their family. It’s a loss, a grief, a tearing of relationship. Christmas. Will it be […]

Helping Others Mental health

A Christmas Rejection – No Place For You

It wasnt so much a closed door, it was more a Christmas rejection. There is no place for you here. I watched him as he told me he wasn’t going to his family’s Christmas party. He had felt a lot of rejection from his family and now he couldn’t […]

Spiritual Formation Spiritual Practices

And Joseph had a Dream

Confusion can tear our lives apart, but perhaps a dream can clarify. For Joseph, a dream tipped the balance to trust a Christmas mystery. Have you ever felt like your brain is caught in a tug of war? You are pulled and torn in different directions. Your values, rules, expectations, […]

Twelve Tips for Reducing the Christmas Day Stress

Mental health

Twelve Tips for Reducing Christmas Day Stress

Christmas Day can be one of the most stressful days of the year. Expectations, relationships, presents all can push the stress elves levels to the max. There is a saying ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ I have noticed that the rising tide of Christmas stress lifts everyone’s boat. Ques of traffic […]

Getting Well Staying Well Mental health

What Harvey Weinstein got for Christmas

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Harvey didn’t quite know what to make of the whole noise and hubbub happening outside his hermit cave. He had run from all the scandal, and now he was out in the desert looking after a bunch of smelly sheep. Others too were joining him. All clothed in rags and […]

Spiritual Formation Uncategorized

The Trickster of Christmas

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The Christmas story is one that takes us into a world of mystery. Virgin birth, singing angels and puzzled parents. It also offers us a glimpse into a party going on with surprises created to delight. He stepped out of the dingy cave for a brief moment of fresh air. […]

Spiritual Formation

Feeling Inadequate at Christmas? 7 Insights to Help

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Christmas time can be one of those times when you can feel miserable. Often this is because in our minds we play a little comparison game. We compare our lot in life, our situation, and our ability to give, to what we perceive in others.

Helping Others

Christmas – What Others Think of Me is None of My Business

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I have had to learn this the hard way. What others think of me is none of my business. Mary focuses on what God is up to. Here are some conversations that may have taken place around the Christmas story Angel: Hi Mary, you’re going to have a baby. Teenager […]

Helping Others Mental health

14 Reasons why Angels would make terrible Mental Health Workers

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Tis the season to be jolly, so a few brief thoughts about Angels in this Christmas season. I was reading the Christmas story the other day and I was struck by how Angels affected the people they came into contact with. So with a little creativity, here are 14 reasons […]