Reflections on seasons of blessings

I was sitting here pre-coffee working this morning, contemplating the past year, mostly the struggles and tribulations, and yet, feeling immensely overwhelmed at how blessed we have been.

As I stood up to get my second cup of coffee, I glanced over and saw this… how can one not be thankful facing down the day knowing that this is the “why” it all matters.

This reminds me of the Psalm:

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of [arrows]. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Psa 127:5.

But what struck me most odd, is there are only 8 people living under my roof – 9 if you count the youngest daughter’s boyfriend, who is almost always here, and almost as much of the family.

But the 10th stocking confused me. I went to turn over the name tag, and turned it over again. Whose stocking is that? I think the wife uses it for the pets, right?

Who else is living here, that I don’t know about… is that why the utility bills are so high?

@@@@ 13-hours later Edit @@@@

Let the holidays begin!!

Merry Christmas 2024

The year has flown by; between full-time work, full-time doctoral studies, and family life, I sit here, finding myself on the brink of 2025. I continue to surprise myself by each and every year I cross the finish line.

There have been a lot of changes this year overall, the most significant being that my middle son married. Life continues to roll along. I may or may not have time to reflect on 2024 before ushering in the new year, but for now – Merry Christmas.

In Excelsis Deo!

Send help.. I think my marriage is in trouble!

So, I asked again what Amanda wants for Christmas, and she responds:

We’ve been married for almost 22 years, you should know what I want.

Danger, Will Robinson.

I can’t figure out what she is thinking day-to-day, and somehow I am now supposed to remember what she thought (or might have said) sometime this past year. It would have sounded something like this I’m sure: “Oh, that looks nice”.

She asks for more dogs and cats daily, but I have pointed out at every turn that either I or one of her myriad of animals will need to die first before that will happen.

I sought the advice of Amazon, and it wasn’t helpful at all. While I might not know what she DOES want, at least I know what she DOESN’T want when I see it.

I only have 119, 928,851 options to pick from.

Send good vibes, I don’t think Christmas is going to go well for me this year.

Happy Birthday Jesus

Sitting in church tonight, I was thinking that the advent means so much more than I’ve ever thought of before. Our King and Creator came in such a strange way, to be born as a servant, to die, not a hero’s death as most Kings of renown, but to die a death most often of slaves, only then to triumph and be triumphant in His death… But, His advent was for my children, and my children’s children… He opened the door of salvation for them – and as a parent, I could never have asked or expected for anything more amazing than that. To know that the light of the world came in to overcome the darkness, to infiltrate and win back the hearts of his rebellious creation and in so doing, He gave me hope in that whatever life brings, there is hope for my children that goes beyond the hardships of this life alone. Regardless of the time of year Christ was really born: Happy Birthday Jesus, and thank you for such a wonderful gift – the gift of life for my children.

Christmas Irony

There is nothing that brings out my nature as a fallen human more than being dragged out shopping around Christmas time.  If you want to cure a humanist – send them Christmas shopping with me.  It becomes very obvious very quickly that I’m not “inherently good”.

And that’s the most ironic part of Christmas, I think.  The weeks leading up to the celebration of the birth of our Lord, seems to make the most obvious, exactly why I need a savior.  

I think I just heard an amen coming from at least one other person in the crowd… it must have been another Logiodice.