I’m feeling a bit wordless today. I’ve spent a good hour so far trying to come up with words or ideas for today’s posts. In the midst of a week that has seen some seriously upsetting, my creativity is feeling sapped. So today, I just want to pass this on:

And with that, my dog and I are going for a walk, to breathe in the fresh air and the sunshine and find God among a the trees and the river.

Until tomorrow, dear friends – breathe, just breathe.

Prayer is a legitimate response.

So I was heartened yesterday, in the midst of the disturbing events taking place in the USA, when one of the former Moderators of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada shared a prayer in the PCC’s facebook group:

I don’t know that I have much to add to that. I have wept for my friends in the States more this year than any year in living memory. I pray that the this latest moment of crisis there would be a catalyst to bring a broken and divided nation to a better, unified, peaceful day.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, may you pray in the Spirit and know God’s peace.

(A lovely prayer to pray in the dark days of January.)

I am back in Toronto, the celebrations of the end of the year have come to an end and we are heading into the hard part of winter for me. In a normal year, I’d get out of dodge for much warmer climes for a couple of weeks. But that, of course, isn’t possible this year.

Add to that the dire statements of many of our leaders and experts, saying that the next few months will be very tough indeed, in Canada, and you have the recipe for a much more difficult than usual winter.

So I was glad to come across this during the past week:

Be encouraged, friends, God is not helpless among the ruins. God is not helpless when our world is in a mess. Christmas, in fact, reminds us that God comes to us and dwells with us in the midst of our mess.

And always remember what Jesus said:

So, until tomorrow, dear friends: cling to hope, cling to the promises of God, trust that God is still able – more than able – to make a way for us in the midst of a messy, broken world.

For my fellow Tolkein fans:

Actually, I’m feeling optimistic about this new year, but there are just so many 2021-dread memes:

100% sure this is how Koski feels about this year:

This gorgeous piece of advice seems right on point for the times we are in:

For my fellow post-apocalyptic literature fans:

This has been me for the last two weeks:

A little left-over Christmas humour:

This little reminder to be grateful:

And, finally, this blessing for your day:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on laughing and thinking and drawing closer to God!

Welcome to Sunday worship. Again, this week, Dad and I are sharing a conversation about one of our favourite passages. This week we welcome Eric Medhurst back in his role of providing music (though we let him record from home, too!). Here is the service:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, be blessed and be a blessing!

Tomorrow is Epiphany Sunday, so here are some resources to get us all in the Spirit:

Let’s start with this version of “As with Gladness, Men of Old.”:

This sweet little Epiphany prayer:

This resource from illustratedministry.com:

This a cappella version of We Three Kings:

And this image that still makes me grin, after many years of having first discovered it:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, may you continue to seek Him!

Every year on New Year’s Day, I find my inbox bombarded by “new year, new you” advertising for gyms, health programs, eating plans. It drives me crazy. I recognize that the New Year is significant in some ways (especially with the year we’ve been through and the hope that is before us as vaccines roll out).

But I rather agree with this:

And I think that’s why all this hype bugs me. It’s a distraction. A distraction from the One who truly has the power to change us. A distraction from our soul-deep need of His leading, guiding, and transforming. A distraction from what ultimately matters – our relationship with the one who created us and died to save us.

So let’s choose not to be distracted this year. Let’s choose to keep Christ at the center of our lives. Let’s ask Him to keep working on us, keep making us over into who He made us to be, keep going the road with us and showing us the way.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, may you choose to know Jesus better.

This is the final day of a year most people wish had gone very differently, indeed. And while I understand that – I miss my friends and I miss the ease with which our community of faith could gather – I also think there has been much for which for which to give thanks.

And while some are bidding goodbye and good riddance to 2020, I find I’m less willing to dismiss this year.

There has been much to grieve in 2020, but there has also been a simplicity to this year. The things that matter have REALLY mattered. The things that couldn’t be done have mattered less. I admit I’m sad that I couldn’t travel this year – I had some good trips planned! – but I’m also more deeply thankful for home than I ever have been before. I am more deeply thankful for my country than I have been before. I’m not taking time with friends and family (much of which has been virtual, outdoors or short lived) for granted, the way I might have before.

At the end of the year, I find myself deeply grateful. So I want to share with you a song that Andrew Peterson wrote about thankfulness. This is, “Don’t you want to thank Someone.”:

Until next year (tomorrow!), dear friends, count your blessings and be thankful.

(More lessons…God has not wasted our time in the midst of this year, friends!)