Favourite week.

Christmas was busy and crazy and exhausting and now it's the week leading up to the new year is completely different. It's late nights and sleeping in. It's eating leftovers and Christmas cookies and too much chocolate. It's pjs and coffee and baileys before bed. It's watching movies and de-cluttering the house. It's taking down the tree and dreaming about the new year.

It's my favourite week of the year. 

It's also a time of reflection. What went well this year? What am I grateful for? What were some of the themes in my life over 2015? What do I want to bring with me into 2016 and what do I need to let go of and leave in 2015? What do I want to be different in 2016? What are my hopes and dreams and goals for 2016? Who are the people I need to surround myself in order to help shape 2016 - people who will sharpen me and shape me and make me better? What word or words sum up the kind of year I would love 2016 to be? What fears and discomforts do I want to lean into? It's a time to dream big dreams and pray new prayers.

I love these kind of questions. They energize me.

I think what I love most about a new year is the freshness of it all. A chance to begin again. A clean slate. An opportunity to write a new story, a new script. It's full of hope and possibility.

This week reminds me that life is a gift. I think of Mary Oliver's words, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” 

If you're into this kind of stuff like I am, here are some fun links you can check out.

My sister Lauren bought me a five year journal for my birthday earlier this month and I love it. It's a lovely cloth bound journal. Each page has five spaces for the same date over five years, so you can look back and read about what happened on that same date one year ago, two years ago and so on. You can write a few sentences about what you did that day, what you learned that day, what you're grateful for, a quote that spoke to you or whatever you want. http://www.amazon.ca/5-Year-Diary-Black-Cover/dp/0977648133/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451415420&sr=8-1&keywords=five+year+diary

This cloth bound devotional book feels great to hold and its content reads like a breath of fresh air. It's about savouring life and beauty and family and frienships. It's about living abundantly. Shauna's writing reads like you're having coffee with an old friend. Did I mention that she includes recipes in the book? http://www.amazon.ca/Savor-Shauna-Niequist/dp/0310344972/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451415478&sr=1-1&keywords=shauna+niequist

I like this 2016 printable that Ann Voskamp put on her blog:

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/12/this-is-the-year-when-new-year-resolutions-feel-hopeless-you-want-some-soulutions-free-printable/ 

Are you familiar with the idea of choosing a word for a new year? Or perhaps letting the word choose you? Ali Edwards explains that in greater detail here: http://aliedwards.com/projects/one-little-word

I'm leaning toward choosing spaciousness as my word for 2016. We'll see...:)

As always, I love Donald Miller's stuff. Check out this amazing PDF download for free: http://storylineblog.com/2015/12/30/start-life-over-reminder/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Donald%20Miller&utm_content=Start%20Life%20Over,%20Reminder

Lastly, one of my New Years goals is to participate in this free class that Brene Brown is offering on trust. Check it out if you're interested:

://www.courageworks.com/shop/classes/the-anatomy-of-trust

Bring on the new year!

Christmas gratitude.

Here we are. It's December 24th. Christmas is most definitely upon us. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year and sometimes if we're honest, it's stressful and chaotic and emotional too - because life is beautiful and complex and messy all wrapped up with a bow. It's hard to tell where one begins and one ends. Right?

This morning, I took a moment to breathe a little deeper and jot down a few things I'm grateful for. Sometimes I need to just put pen to paper and remind myself of what's true. It does me a world of good.

Here's Eva reading on the front porch just an hour ago. In December. Wild. Hello 13 degrees.

Christmas baking from this past Monday. Hence the shortbread I was eating :)

When we took this family photo, our photographer suggested a spot up the hill from our home where the light was amazing at 6 pm on a Wednesday in October. She said, "let's go chase the light". That's just what we did and I love the photos because of the light streaming in.  Within moments of the photos being taken, darkness set in. It was a golden moment indeed.

Lately, that phrase, "let's go chase the light" has come back to me.

I thought of it again today as I read from Isaiah 9 (MSG):

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—
    light! sunbursts of light!

For a child has been born—for us!
    the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over
    the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
    Strong God,
Eternal Father,
    Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
    and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

As I took a few moments of silence this morning, I said yes to the light. Yes to Jesus, the Christ Child and all that he wants to bring into my life. Yes to wholeness and peace. Yes to grace. My hands and heart are open.

But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.Luke 2:10-11 (NIV)

Out of the blue, I remembered this morning that my Dad's all time favourite Christmas Carol is "Once in Royal David's City". For some reason it touched me and made me feel all childlike and nostalgic. In the spirit of isn't that what Christmas is all about? I'll share it here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NMGMV-fujUY

Merry Christmas friends! May you swim in grace and rest in love. May you chase the light this holiday season xo

Advent.

Here we are in the season of advent. I'm  beyond thrilled with this advent wreath that Steve helped me make. It might just be my favourite gift this year.

I grew up in a faith tradition that celebrated advent. I admit that for so many years I never appreciated it and drifted from the meaning and the liturgy of it all.

In a full circle kind of way, I have found myself longing for and being drawn back to this simple, childlike and yet deep and meaningful ritual.

A few decades later, a little life experience and I totally get it.

Advent is waiting. 

Advent is all about the waiting and the unknown and the in-between. I get it. I live much of my life in this place, so it seems. You probably do too.

I'm not sure what you are waiting on this advent season. What we are waiting for is as individual and as complex as we are. Maybe it's a child to be born, a house to sell or a refugee family arriving from Syria. Maybe it's test results or the restoration of a relationship. We all long for healing and peace in our lives and in the parts of the world most torn up by war and afflicted by injustice. We all ache for wrong to be made right.

When I think about advent, I am reminded and take back to days when I was 9 months pregnant. I think about the waiting. The ache. The anticipation. The weariness. The discomfort. The sleepless nights. The not yet. The almost. The unknown.

Eight days ago our family of five lit the candle of hope. My teens kind of rolled their eyes as teens sometimes do.

As the day grew shorter and the night became darker, the candle burned brighter. Yesterday we lit the candle of peace.

I'm standing with all of you who are in the waiting today, because I too am in the waiting. In some parts of my life, I feel uncertain and uneasy. Not sure of what is next. Facing fear and anxiety head on.

I'm trusting in the message of Christmas. Trusting in the message of Emmanuel. That God is with us - in the waiting and in the darkness. In the not yet. In the unknown. 

This advent season, may we seek and find Emmanuel in the most unexpected places.

May we welcome Him in to the waiting, the unknown and the not-yet. May we find meaning in the mess and beauty rising up from the ashes. 

May we lean in and find Him in the darkness. In the mystery. In the unknown. In the unexpected places and ways that He loves to show up the most.

May His love and grace abound. May His light shine all the brighter in the darkest of nights.

O come O come Emmanuel.