And Jesus increased in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52 How do you grow wisdom or stature? How do you grow in favor with God and man? I can't just put up a growth marker inside my closet and take monthly measurements to show increase in wisdom, influence. Inches won't mark the progress I make in deepening my relationship with God or man. How do I know it's happening? Jesus didn’t grow in these ways because of his number on the Enneagram Personali

Underneath the story of Christmas that we celebrate every year is another story. It is a story of waiting as long and as misunderstood as the 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew. This story completes what Christmas began. This story is victory over everything that we have wrestled with from betrayals and reversals, death and disease, inequality and unanswered questions. It is the story of the second Advent. No one sets up a tree for this part of the story. No

2018 comes with its brand new calendar pages. Most of us haven’t even had time to start filling up the squares. It looks clean, unused, hopeful. But what will we write on its pages? I don’t know about you but I come to this New Year needing everything a fresh start can offer. But how can I make sure that I squeeze every good and productive possibility out of this New Year? I’ve tried the resolution route. I’ve made heroic attempts to address bad habits with optimistic go

Are you looking for something new in the New Year? I think many of us want the New Year to live up to its name. What good is changing the year we write if nothing new comes with it? Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want catastrophic new. I’d like to be done with crisis and uphill journeys. I simply want that motivating new that helps you sail through the day with creative, expectant, productive power. However, I am remembering some important lessons I learned about new. I

Today, Wednesday, January 6, is Ephiphany. This is the day set aside to remember the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. The Magi came later than the shepherds, though our nativity pageants and home scenes rarely show this chronology. Our daughter, Lisa, never places the Wise Men near her manger scene. They can show up all around her apartment, from bedroom to kitchen, making their way to baby Jesus. We smile at her simple application. Truth be known, sometimes I am env

My in box bursts with messages about what I need to do for the New Year. If I made one resolution per e-mail suggestion, my list of New Year resolutions would be daunting. And impossible! I usually make a short list of goals for the New Year, and I know I should have made one by now. Goodness knows there is a lot in my life that needs work. But I can’t just make a list about it. Maybe it’s the season of my life. Maybe it’s all the change I have confronted. Maybe it’s all the