I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.                                    Philippians1:3-6

I woke up with this verse in my head today, and I feel compelled to share this with my readers this morning. I have always loved this verse because it speaks to Paul’s love for his fellow believers, and it is also so encouraging. It made me think of the importance of sharing those feelings that we have toward one another on a very regular basis.

Paul’s fellow travelers in faith shared many hardships. Indeed, many faced death on a regular basis. The thing that encouraged them was knowing that others cared for them, and that God sustains them. Paul said that he was “confident that God, who had begun a good work in them, would carry it on to completion”.

We need to be reminded of this promise, especially in these trying days. We need to remind one another of this promise also. So, I want to convey that I am so thankful every day for my family, my friends, my colleagues, my readers- so many people in my life.

Pass on today that sentiment to those around you, or even those distant via our electronically connected world. Blessings on your journey…

Prayer: Father, thank you for sustaining us with your love and provision, and thank you for the plan that we travel together, Amen.

…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ                      II Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)

One of the things that I sometimes discuss with my clients is the idea of a “grievance narrative”. I borrow this term from Dr. Fred Luskin who wrote the book Forgive for Good. I think we all fall into this kind of narrative to some extent, but chronically doing this leads to a victim mentality. A quick little example-

You wake up and you stumble into the bathroom half awake; then you bump your toe against the tub. A few minutes later, you drop the soap in the shower, and then upon getting out of the shower, you find that there is no towel handy. You say to yourself, “Wow, this is going to be one of those days!”

Pretty simple and innocuous stuff, but you have given yourself permission to say that this is going to be a bad day. You start to look for things that might go wrong, or that you perceive to go wrong, and you begin to build a little grievance narrative. That is thinking like, “this is just another example of how bad my day is”, or “I have been wronged by the universe”.  

On a more serious scale, some people fall into this thinking on larger issues, and begin to build a case for entitlement to a bad mood or negative outlook. If this thinking is not internally challenged, we can go down the slippery slide of victimhood, anger, and entitlement to lash out at others (or sometimes ourselves). We need to pause, take our thoughts captive and ask, “Is this just my negative thinking at work here? “Are things really as bad as I am telling myself?

Indeed, there are many ways that we can pause and challenge our thinking process. Usually, we can break that negative slide and bring more rational thinking into play. At the very least, we have put a stop to the beginnings of a victim mindset.

This process of “stacking” bad news can happen very subtly, but it can cause problems. We need to learn to take each event that happens on its own, and not build it into a grievance narrative of bad prospects.  

It also helps to look at ourselves with a sense of humor. Nothing like laughing at ourself to bring us back to reality!

Prayer: Lord, give us the nudges to examine our attitudes, Amen

 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

Christmas 2025 is over, and we are in the “Twixmas” week. This is a kind of laid-back time for business, a time for kids to wear out their new toys, a time for some families to extend visits, a time to watch some meaningless (but nonetheless fun) college football bowl games, and a time to plan for the New Year.

Pretty soon, we will be back to “normal”, and winter 2026 will descend upon the Northern Hemisphere. People will be making New Year’s resolutions with the best of intentions, and they will feel better for the moment in having made some kind of commitment to positive change. Some actually will keep those resolutions, others, in the words of Ben Franklin, will fall into the old wisdom. “When all is said and done, more is said than done”.

The year 2025 may or may not have worked out as we had hoped. Some people are happy and fulfilled, others are in some level of pain and despair. But here is the truth of the matter. God is good, and he has been good, and he will continue to be good. He will never leave us or forsake us, no matter what kind of problems or issues we may blunder into. Our eyes are on God, not merely our current circumstances.

 That is the good news, my friends!

Prayer: Lord, we give thanks for your blessings in the past year, and pray for guidance in the coming one, Amen.

This is a reprint of a blog from Ben Cremer that my daughter sent me. It was so good, I wanted to share it. Merry Christmas!

Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies
Well, I’m all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I’m not a child, but my heart still can dream
So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas List
Not for myself, but for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
And wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

I write this blog on a bright and crisp winter morning. Yes, it is now winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and it is acting like it. It is cold and dark, with extreme angles of the sun making glare a paradoxical hazard of winter.

But, in contrast, the Christmas season is exactly the opposite of that. Even the Christmas carols sing about “warm and bright”. We cherish the warmth of a fireplace, the bright lights of outside decorations and Christmas tree lights. Such physical experiences add to our emotional sense of well-being during this time of year.

The presence of family and friends gathered together gives us a sense of connection and joy. I trust that my readers will bask in the glow of both physical and emotional warmth this Christmas. Some of my friends and relatives are grieving significant losses that occurred over this past year. To them I extend the prayer of peace that this season promises. To a world broken by war and senseless violence, I pray for strength, and the promise that Jesus is the ultimate answer to humankind’s propensity for such evils.

The lyrics above from the song My Grown Up Christmas List came to mind as I composed this blog. It seemed to touch a chord this year.

I trust that your Christmas wishes come true this year…

A Note to Readers: This is a blog I wrote exactly 7 years ago. It was when I was healing from knee surgery. I hope you find it helpful…

I am now 9 days post knee replacement surgery, and the healing progress is real, but, in my thinking, interminably slow. Such thinking is undoubtedly formed by excess hubris on the part of the patient, painful but true. However, there have been many lessons already in this process, even though that process is quite new. Time indeed is relative, even though in a different sense than Albert Einstein explained it.

I am struck first by the fact that the struggles of rehabilitation from a surgery are much more mental than physical. It goes without saying that there are significant physical struggles, but the will to do the hard work of rehab, to force oneself time and again to engage pain because you know it is good for you, takes a certain amount of faith. I trust that the principle of “no pain, no gain” is true, however, that does not make me want to engage it. That is a moment by moment battle to “just do a little more”.

There is also an immutable law of nature which is paradoxical. In order for new life to happen, there must be a death somewhere. The renewal of our bodies, and indeed that of all nature, only takes place by the old cells which have died being replaced by new cells. Muscles which have been damaged by surgery must be rebuilt and strengthened. In the words of the Bible, (John 12:24) “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels–a plentiful harvest of new lives.” (New Living Translation)

Another lesson from rehab is that “use it or lose it” is proven once again as another universal truth. Lay off using muscles for a few days and they believe that their owner has died, or decided to die, so they might as well retire. They start to atrophy right after we stop using them for a while. The point here is that the sooner we use every muscle we can, the sooner we heal.

Finally, one must decide to be well. I know that just because we decide to be well that such decision alone does not make us well. However, if we do not choose to be well, we cannot be well. There is a certain despair that hits everyone at various times- that self-defeating part of all of us, which tells us that this healing is never going to happen.  “Just give up and stay in bed” it tells us. I suggest that this happens to everyone, regardless of surgery or anything else. There are times we just want to give up and go to bed. I think it is reasonable to visit this place in our head, and even entertain it for a very short while. However, we can only visit this place, we cannot live there.

I write this as self-healing, so thank you for indulging that. However, the much higher purpose is to engage the reader to think about some laws of nature and how we deal with them. Healing is a great gift, but it comes with cost. We need to allow others to help us in this process, and we need to push ourselves to do the work of healing. I am learning on that journey, and it is good for me. We learn from pain and we better understand the wonderful plan of how healing really works.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect                                                     Romans 12:2

Have you grown in your faith over the years? I hope so. Do you think about your faith the way you did several (or many) years ago? I suspect not. That is O.K. We are curious people, growing physically (well not in the ways we might like!), spiritually, emotionally, socially. We change, and that is good.

We are forced to look regularly at our faith, and how it guides us through changes in our life. Yes, there are some basics that we hold fast onto. We may not change so much what we believe, but we may change the way we talk about our beliefs.

As I have gotten older, for example, I have recognized that my idea of “certainty” has changed. I am more open to seeing that there are many ways to look at how God deals with his creation. My limited understanding does not limit God and how he has organized the universe. As science gives us new insights into the world, it does not weaken my faith- it strengthens it.  As I look at the history of Christendom, I see the flaws that sapped the vigor from the bold witness that the Church could have given to a needy world.

Yes, we evolve in our thinking, but we hold fast onto basic truths. God loves us, created us to love and trust him, and to love others.

The Good News!

Prayer: Lord, help us to embrace change as we cling to the basics of your love, Amen

Grace flows downhill. It runs down from the heights of God to the humble at the foot of the mountain. Grace also takes away fear and reveals the mighty, tender, compassionate securities of God. As you humble yourself, you will find fears fading away like the morning mists. Believe, only believe.

Jack Miller

I like the quote above because it gives hope for those who feel that they are “at the bottom”. God’s grace and his plans always feel “upside down” to those who are not in tune with God’s Kingdom principles. Those who appear at the “top of the mountain” sometimes seem to feel that they need less grace because they have met with some worldly success. That they, by nature of hard work, connections, or just luck, have been blessed with all that they need.

We all need grace, but God’s plan is that “the least of these” are recipients of the grace that flows all the way down to them- in abundance. I don’t know where you fall in seeing yourself as a recipient of God’s grace. You may feel lost or overlooked. You may feel hopeless. However, especially at this time of year, when we celebrate the start of the Kingdom work of Jesus coming to earth, know that his grace is free and abundant to all.

It flows downhill.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your grace so abundant, Amen.

But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.                                                                            Psalm 9:18

It only takes a few minutes in starting to read the Sermon on the Mount for one to see that Jesus came to give a message to those who were hurting. He assumed that the people who were drawn to him were drawn because they could see that he gave a message of hope. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn”, etc. These were hurting people. They needed his attention, and they needed to hear about hope.

The fact that Jesus was so particular, and so direct, in giving a message of hope to those hurting people should be the message that his followers hear. Those are the marching orders for his followers.

So, the gospel message is one of hope, not fear, not destruction, not division, but hope. Let’s follow the Master’s lead in spreading that message.

Prayer: Lord, help us to have clarity about your simple message, Amen