Over the past few months, I’ve posted about the variation between the theoretical and reality and how, often, the two can be quite incompatible. Sometimes life defies simple answers with its messy complexity and apparent inability to flow according to well-laid plans. Recently, my family embarked on a gardening adventure that reminded me just how …
This year, my focus shifted to another aspect of Advent, the opportunity to intentionally seek out and protect space to prepare my heart in joyful anticipation for what is to come: Christmas Day.
So now I watch for them, my little unexpected moments of joy where my face hurts from so much smiling and the mess-free glitter flies around me. I no longer take them for granted. The ordinary moment that is filled with joyful power no longer gets left as ordinary, but I capture it in my mind for rainy day remembering.
Recently, my family navigated a bout of COVID infections which necessitated the cancellation of some highly anticipated plans. As I worked to overcome my disappointment, I was reminded of All That Still Is.
I allowed myself to get caught up in the simple act of making plans, basking in the highly anticipated full schedule of activities and gatherings, that I almost forgot to stop making plans and start enjoying them.
Hope has brought renewed opportunities to reflect on and process the past season; to leave the lonely routines of COVID uncertainty and create new rhythms of joy and hope.
The Advent season, Latin for “coming,” feels especially relevant this year as “waiting” corresponds with the experience that has consumed most of 2020.
While this season has been unexpected in so many ways and filled with so much loss, I’ve started to realize I can still find enjoyment in all that still is.
Another round of birthdays is currently in full swing at my house. As I prepared gifts, cakes, and decorations to celebrate my kids’ birthdays and make their days special, I reflected on my own birthday and how the past few have been filled with unexpecteds. I don’t usually make a big deal out of my …
Sometimes I think it is easy to feel disappointed. It can seem as if one bad thing is happening after another, and even the best moments seem to not quite meet expectations. I find that there is an - expectation→ anticipation→ disappointment - loop that occasionally tries to take over, and it can often succeed …
the unexpected ever afters 