If I can say one thing about this Advent season, it’s that I’ve certainly not been alone. You, dear friends, have journeyed long and hard with me, from the end of our Thanksgiving feasting to the quiet of Christmas Eve, to the celebration of Christmas Day and beyond to the next day. Now it’s close to New Year’s, and although this journey has meant something incredibly special to me, I’m examining myself. The four tenants of Advent are Love, Hope,... Read more
Jesus, I go from one extreme to the other; I think that we’re the scum of the earth, and then I see someone do something lovely, and I think that maybe we’re not so bad. So whatever we are, I recognize today that there is hope. Whatever we are, I believe You see us wholly, that You’re capable of sheltering us from ourselves and bringing out those bright shining sparkles that make us so incredibly beautiful. So today, we trust You, and... Read more
Today is the day after. Some people may not have celebrated Christmas with their families yet, may not have joined in festivities, celebrated with the rest of us. But if you did, today is more rest, a chance to linger a little. Today is a day to be small again, to get low, to look tiny. This isn’t just to be childlike, but to be humble-like. This is how we don’t miss out on the big picture– we zoom in,... Read more
What exactly happens on Christmas Day? Does anything deep inside our DNA change from Christmas Eve night to Christmas morning? Does a new Spirit overwhelm the earth on the dawn of the 25th of December? Maybe more than this, Christmas becomes a reminder once again. Christmas is an Ebenezer– every gift opened and hug exchanged, every quiet reflection is a memory rooted in the birth of Jesus all those years ago. Eliot has been asking us a lot of questions... Read more
“And every Christmas I go back to the scene where it all started and ask once more: ‘Can I bear you again? Can I be your midwife, your mother, your wet nurse, your nanny—anyone; someone who will nurture the birth of Love on earth and goodwill toward all man?’ ” –Erika Morrison There is a heavy weight that bears down over our shoulders on Christmas Eve, like the one Erika describes here as she reflects on what it... Read more
We arrived at my in-laws’ house the other day. Christmas decorations were making their way to countertops and windows, bulbs being strung on the tree and the nativity nestled by the fireplace. Trav’s parents bought stockings for all the grandkids this year. They hang together across the top of the fireplace, where a faux fire burns, little orange flames dancing behind brown logs. If this isn’t the magic of Christmas, I don’t know what is. Today, everyone will be here– all... Read more
Last Wednesday was a hard day. Both boys decided to skip their naps, Travis was working to get his last paper of the semester done, and I was in my own world, trying to hold everything together. You could say we’d lost a little of our Christmas spirit that day. You could say we were tired. But then, community came ’round. In the early afternoon, Debra delivered snacks and presents for the boys. In the evening, Cecil and Keith– one... Read more
Travis, Have I told you lately that you’re one of the hardest people to buy Christmas presents for? It’s what I love about you, and what challenges my gift-giving heart to no end. But the best part about who you are is that you’re constantly you. We met in a season in which we were both transitioning– I was learning college and stepping out of the traditional baptist church I’d grown up in, and you were learning life without your... Read more
“Mommy, there’s something called a miracle. It’s something really beautiful in the whole world. Like sunflowers.” To this little toddler of mine, anything in the world that gives off beauty is a miracle. Every flower, every mountain, every fleck of snow or sand grain, the water striders that dance on the surface of the river. …except wasps. He omitted them from the list. The Advent miracle is that Baby Jesus ever even came to be in Mary’s little belly. The... Read more
Jesus, We’ve been trying to learn one thing or another all these years, trying to pick up Your voice, trying to catch Your scent as we traipse along our paths, each different from another. So while we’re trying to configure You in our own small minds, teach us who You are in the most tangible ways, the human ways that each of us can understand. You were a miracle then, and You are a miracle now. Teach us to catch... Read more
Stories - with Kaitlin B. Curtice
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