Hey everyone. Welcome. Hopefully this finds you remembering the beauty and hope of the season. Maybe you aren't feeling that right now. Maybe you are. Either way, I want to encourage

you to spend just a few minutes with me as I share some things that might be just what you need

right now. I'm going to read to you an article I wrote last Christmas for homeschooling today.

You can find this year's free holiday digital edition for this

magazine using the link that I'll include in the podcast notes. I love the heart of this magazine,

and I think you will too. I shared ways to simplify Christmas in a podcast earlier this month.

The permeating question came down to

where is Jesus? In the activities, the traditions, the gifts, the lights, the gatherings,

it's worth taking a few minutes and asking ourselves, where is Jesus? When we do this,

we quite possibly may find certain activities or even traditions falling off to the

wayside in order to more fully enjoy the ones that really matter.

Last week, I talked with my friend Heather about cultivating your family's holiday culture.

Again, the focus was on what emphasizes

and truly reflects the heart of Jesus. We can feel so rushed right now, and yet the season is really

about the opposite of that. It's about taking time. It's an invitation to wait. We wait in anticipation of a promise of a

Messiah that was given so many years ago. Waiting isn't something that most of us do well. I don't wait

well, but recently God has literally stopped me in my tracks. It's been like gears grinding.

He's revealing some parts of my heart that are not fully surrendered to him. It's not exactly what I

had in mind when I set out to wait. It's painful. I feel weak. I feel vulnerable. I feel raw. Maybe that's where you find yourself today, for whatever

reason. Please know that you're not alone. But in the midst of this, we're reminded that God

always keeps his promises. He will keep his promises to us and to our children. So as we ponder Christmas

and as we take a posture of waiting, we also bring our children alongside of us. In the next podcast,

...