The older I get the less I see spirituality as an accomplishment. It seems to me to be mostly a matter of letting go and being willing to receive the special gifts God desires to give to us in His timing.

Christmas is the celebration of the keeping of a promise. A saving promise.

One of the most important lessons the Lord has taught me is that you are not your gift. That is, you are not defined by what you do or create. Jesus is a wonderful example of this. He would not allow the crowd to define Him by His considerable gifts, even though they tried to do so. Jesus always points away from Himself and His gifts and thereby wins praise for the Father. We are not our gifts. We are called to give more. Like Jesus, we are called to give ourselves. That is the real purpose behind our gifts; they are vehicles for giving the self.

But our wounds are part of who we are...and there is nothing left to chance....And pain's the pen that writes the songs....That call us forth to dance

To allow myself to be loved by God in my deepest brokenness is to experience a love that defies human comprehension.

To be rooted in love is to look beyond surface appearances to see the inner beauty in others often disfigured by sin.

Behind every specific call, whether it is to teach or preach or write or encourage or comfort, there is a deeper call that gives shape to the first: the call to give ourselves away - the call to die.