After the three wise men cut through the gumdrop pass, they came across a barn raising of sorts.  Some children were making gingerbread houses.  The magi decided to stay and help the young children raise their barns.  “But we were catching up on time!” bemoaned Balthasar, who was quickly quieted when he spied all the candies laid out on giant platters.

Today's Quote: “During Advent our preacher, Veronica, said that this is life’s nature, that lives and hearts get broken, those of people we love, those of people we’ll never meet.  She said the world sometimes feels like an emergency ward, and that we, who are more or less OK for now, need to take the tenderest care of the more wounded people in the waiting room, until the healer comes.  You sit with people, she said, you bring them juice and graham crackers.” (Anne Lamott)

Today's Microchallenge:  If you are “more or less OK,” sit with somebody you know may be a little more wounded this winter.  Bring them juice and graham crackers.  Or better yet, have a gingerbread “barn raising” together!