Maybe it\u2019s because this chair is the only thing i know that has been with me through every stage of life. I\u2019ve never grown tired of it, never felt the need for a newer, better model, and it\u2019s been, at all times, useful and worth having around. I mean, how many things in your life can say the same?<\/p>\n
I also know that I\u2019d feel better if my chair were going to the Habitat Re-store, where another family would love it and sit in it and feel so warm and loved. But I don\u2019t want their kids to get lockjaw, either. And there\u2019s just something really depressing about a municipal landfill, you know?<\/p>\n
Still and all, here is the Advent message of all this\u2026\u00a0 Christmas is not all about presents.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0the consumer and material impulses of the season can diminish entirely the true meaning. And yet, with each gift that we give,\u00a0there is hope: that\u00a0the recipient of said gift will find it to be meaningful, useful, and\/or comforting, in a way that is lasting and\u2013dare i say\u2013transformational. We hope that the Christmas tree ornament we give our spouse will remind them, for years to come, of our first Christmas together, or of a special trip we took in a given year. We hope that our daughters will have\u00a0fond memories of\u00a0a doll house,\u00a0enough to save it\u00a0for their\u00a0own little girls. We hope that our boys will always remember their first bike, their first football, their Red Ryder BB gun<\/em> with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n When we give a gift, we give life and witness\u00a0to our hope: that the joy of Christmas morning will stay with our loved ones all the days of their lives.\u00a0\u00a0We know that memories are born around that tree.\u00a0\u00a0While material things are so often of little use or importance, some of them can stay with us for a very, very long time and take us, always, to a place where we are loved and cared for and truly at home. May it be so with everything we give, and all that we receive in this blessed season.<\/p>\n Prayer\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n God of our every gift\u2013guide us to give in a true spirit of love and generosity. Teach us to share with the needy and the poor, whom we will never meet, just as fully as we share with our own family. Forgive us when our attachment to things keeps us from making room in our lives, in our hearts, and in this season, for the coming gift of your love. Fill us with your mercy, and replace all that has been lost with the hope of good news to come. Amen. <\/em><\/p>\n When I was a sophomore in college, my grandparents got new furniture, and got rid of the old. Among the outgoing stuff: two slate blue, la-z-boy recliners. They were, honestly, the most comfortable chairs on the planet. Plush and inviting, they rocked, they leaned back, they had just enough give and just enough support to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":2463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[569,798,799,183,9,800,10],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent-and-christmas","category-marriage-and-family","tag-a-christmas-story","tag-christmas-shopping","tag-la-z-boy","tag-marriage","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-red-ryder-bb-gun","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/333\/2012\/12\/christmas-tree-sarah.jpg\" "\\"christmas-tree-sarah\\"")
<\/a>Salt and Nectar<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"