Do you have the heart to be a genuine Valentine? The traditional sentiments float across store shelves and into mailboxes--be mine, I love you, I'm yours, etc. We purchase knick knacks and cards for friends, family, and those whose company we enjoy. But these gifts fall short of a true Valentine…
LED strands wind through plastic branches, grabbing the hooks of metallic globes. Cinnamon sticks plunk into tidy rows of cider mugs. Cookies huddle onto platters and store shelves brim over with packages. Christhannukwanzolidays strode into our community, complete with all the fixings. The trimmings themselves have not cut Christ from Christmas.…
"Are you important?" The pharmacist locked eyes with me. Taken off-guard by the question, I fumbled for a response. "You look like you're important," he said. "Well, everybody's just as important as everyone else," I managed to say. "I'm sure I'm no more important than you are." "Well, that's a good…
"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word" (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). Joey's leg brace dug into the earth as he walked home from school. Bubba and his pack…
Diamond commercials and Hallmark ads glitter in the eyes of heartsick romantics. Neglected hearts feel sick at first sight of them. Loneliness drags the season to a crawl, so they begin praying for a freak storm to blow the flower stands and pink card displays off the face of the…