GLORIOUS MESSES

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedlngly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God,  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.  ..And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-5, 14,16-17

FOOLISH WISDOM

Grace is spiritual WD-40, or water wings.  The mystery of grace is that God loves Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Putin and me exactly as much as He loves your new grandchild.  Go figure.  The movement of grace is what changes us, heals us and heals our world.  To summon grace, say “Help,” and then buckle up.  Grace finds you exactly where you are, but it doesn’t leave you where it found you.  And grace won’t look like Casper the Friendly Ghost, regrettably.  But the phone will ring or the mail will come and then against all odds, you’ll get your sense of humor about yourself back.  Laughter really is carbonated holiness.  It helps us breathe again and again and give us back to ourselves, and this gives us faith in life and each other.  And remember -grace always bats last. (Anne Lamott)

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day.  Don’t clean it up too quickly. (Andy Rooney)

Merry Christmas!