When we exchange the sweaters that don’t fit and donate duplicate items we received for Christmas, we still have more gifts to open. Yes, after the fireworks fizzle, we will awaken to God’s gift of a new year, a set of 365 days (Lord willing). Like a holiday jigsaw puzzle, the days will fit together nicely with the last piece inserted next New Year’s Eve. How shall we begin our conversation about the new year? (If you don’t mind, let’s postpone a discussion of New Year’s resolutions like losing weight and exercising, although they’re worthy goals.) Let’s begin with…
Tag: 2 Peter 3:18
What I Learned About Growth
“I think she died,” I said to my husband as I lamented the appearance of my friend, the tree who once stood proudly along the fence line. Each fall for decades she’d graced our backyard with a striking combination of colors. Every spring and summer her green waxy leaves provided beauty and shade. But on that mid-spring afternoon, she showed no signs of life. No leaf buds emerged from her long, bare limbs. This mighty tree spread her branches at ninety-degree angles from the eighteen-inch-thick trunk. She stood in sharp contrast to the spring-green leaves and grassy lawn around her.…