I love everything about Christmas. The decorations, the parades, the food, the music... I'm a sucker for all of it. In fact, I sing "Silent Night" year-round to my little ones at night, I love it so much.

This is my favorite holiday.

This year, my children are at great ages - Hannah is one and a half and Micah is 3 years old - when everything starts to come alive! And sometimes, quite literally. Like the motion-sensor snowman in our bathroom that says funny things upon entrance,  "Are you doing okay? You're looking a little flushed! Get it, flushed?! Hahaha!" and "If you're looking for some paper to wrap presents with, I have plenty in here!" Hannah enjoys those things as long as she's still standing 10 feet away.

And while their little minds are growing in wonder and excitement over the little things each day, I can't help but feel it too! Being around them makes me feel like a child at Christmas all over again.

Because, joy is contagious. Their joy is contagious. 

photo by Justin Robinson

I believe with all my heart that we have the opportunity to be contagious with our joy this holiday season. More than any other time of the year, people are looking for hope, peace, love and joy. They want to believe in the Jesus of the Christmas story. Because without Jesus, there would be no, "Silent Night," "Joy to the World," or "O Holy Night." Sure, you still have the jolly, ole Saint Nicholas - but even his joy wears off as soon as Christmas ends. 

The joy that Jesus brings lasts the whole year through. 

And, let me tell you, that's a reason to celebrate right there! One month-ish of festivities doesn't seem like a big enough "thank you party" for Jesus. But hey, it's something the whole world joins in with so, I'm not complaining. 

This joy does not always come without hardship or trial or days when you feel like you just can't get out of bed to face it. Those days are the very reason we need Jesus. And, truly, when our joy is most contagious. The world is baffled at things that don't make sense - hope in the midst of despair, love in the midst of hatred, peace in the midst of chaos and joy in the midst of pain. 

There are some things going on in my life right now that I am struggling to have joy in. Nothing life-threatening. But circumstances that I would surely not choose for me or my loved ones to be facing this holiday season. Maybe you are too. But know that even during the private battles - joy can still shine so evidently. Not everyone needs to know your pain to see your joy. 

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Every morning, Micah wakes up and asks, "Is it Christmas today?!" Because he knows the REAL party is coming - when family gathers together in one room, presents will be opened, delicious food (and cookies!) eaten. And every day I say, "Not yet. But we're going to keep celebrating!" 

May we live every moment of our lives with as much expectancy for Jesus' return as we do for Christmas Day. And while THE day might not be TODAY, may we celebrate with a joy so contagious as if it was. 

I had the opportunity to share a few thoughts over on our church's website on Peace this holiday season. Our new communications director (and one of my dear friends), Emily, asked me to write about this topic after a conversation we had one day on the struggle to find peace in the midst of difficult seasons. It's a lesson that I am learning personally and one that I find especially important during the holiday season, when (financial, relational and emotional) anxiety tends to rise. I pray that this post would encourage you to seek His peace during this season and beyond. 

photo by Justin Robinson

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

I’m a mom of two toddlers. My life is filled with all kinds of noise: high-pitched shrills of joy and anger, sudden tearful outbursts, milk dripping on the floor… and that’s just coming from me! Don’t get me started on how loud those little humans can be.

When it comes to having some “peace and quiet” in my life, I’ve learned that I can still strive for the peace, even when the quiet seems impossible.

Jesus was given many names throughout Scripture to describe His character. One of the names that is celebrated and sung about most often during the Christmas season is, “Prince of Peace.” This is a beautiful reminder that in the very nature of Jesus, resides peace.

Reflecting on the Christmas story and how Jesus was born in a stable next to smelly, farm animals, I think we can assume that it was not all peace and quiet in there either. I can imagine the animals may have become territorial about their space. And if I was Mary, I would have been less than calm about the idea of giving birth in such an unsanitary place. But there he came, and with him came peace.

Click here to continue reading, "Not All Peace and Quiet."

If you've been on the internet this week you may have heard that Chipotle is closing (they're not), Christians hate Starbucks (they don't) and Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are expecting a baby (the jury is still out on this). 

We live in a media-saturated culture where we glean wisdom from headlines. Except, a truly wise person knows not to believe everything they read online.

“The simple believe anything, but the wise give thought to their steps.”

— Proverbs 14:15

image source: http://www.psfk.com/2015/10/starbucks-holiday-cups-2015-branding-brand-assets.html

I know we all make mistakes and jump the gun on some things before we know all the facts, but this seems to be a common, recurring theme on social media these days. I think part of the reason to blame is that the silent killer built into the DNA of social media is competition. 

People want to be the first to know things. Instead of waiting for the truth to be revealed - some just start making stuff up. Other people believe it and start spreading the same lies. It's a viscous and never-ending cycle. 

Usually the lies are minor and don't really affect my personal life. But this week, I felt the sting of this attack. It gets personal to me when the subject of the lie relates to my faith. Early Monday I got online and saw several people, mostly non-believers, criticizing and mocking "Christians" for their apparent intolerance of the new "red" Starbucks holiday cups. I looked into it, before becoming defensive. Truly believing that maybe there were some Christians in an uproar over this Starbucks-cup thing. It wouldn't be the first time. There are several reasons Christians have stopped supporting this coffee place (and I gotta say, it's just a coffee place to me, not somewhere I go and expect a Christian worldview to be present). But after I found the source of this allegation, it was so obvious that this was a media-attempt to attack the Christian culture as a whole, based on the remarks of ONE guy with a social media platform. 

This is the world we live in. And really, guys, it's just going to get worse. 

As believers, we need to have wisdom before spreading false truths. We need to do our research and protect the name of not only our brothers and sisters in the faith, but Jesus Christ. 

The world is truly desperate to prove that Christians are intolerant, hateful bigots. And they wouldn't be wrong. We can be all of those things. They just seem to find the wrong examples. We should be unapologetically intolerant and hateful about the evil in this world. Sex-trafficking. Racism. Murder. Adultery. Jealousy. And ALL sin. We should hate it. 

Why? Because Jesus hated it enough to die for us. And what kind of society, long-term, does a completely tolerant one look like? I imagine a lot like the one we're turning into. 

It was never really about the cup in the first place. It was one guy trying to find a way to make Starbucks celebrate the "true meaning of Christmas" by encouraging everyone to tell the barista their name was "Merry Christmas" so they would have to write it on their "plain red cup." Another gimmick that was probably mostly driven by selfish ambition. Everyone is looking for one these days, it seems. 

So I guess the moral of this post is don't let your faith turn into a gimmick, be wise and please, don't believe everything you read online.