Ringing Like a Bell

I have been reading Ann Voskamp's Advent devotional book this year, The Greatest Gift . Usually my friends and I read one together, but this year I dropped the ball. So only my sister is joining me in re-reading this great little book. Each day, along with the other devotional essentials, Ann includes a suggestion to take action in light of God's gift of Jesus. I've been trying to do them all along because it's fun and helps encourage me. She invites her readers to sing Christmas carols out loud, to create something from love, or do something just to please God. I've had no problem following along -- until yesterday. Here's yesterday's task: "Go to a new place today -- to a neighbor's home you've never been before. Be a blessing and bring your neighbor a blessing of some sort. Leave him or her a Christmas card telling about Jesus, the blessing God gives to all people on earth!" Let me say that there is nothing wrong with this idea. It

About a week before Thanksgiving this year, I met Santa Claus. I have been having a challenging fall semester and feeling generally defeated. My students went through a phase where they were heckling me while I tried to teach, and I hadn’t had a lot of support in dealing the problems in my classroom. That day I was dressed totally in black, reflecting my mood. The store was crowded. I was exhausted. It was dark and raining out, but I had to get groceries. Finally, I made it to the checkout line. An elderly man came up behind me and started putting all his items on the conveyor belt. I glanced over and noticed that everything he was buying was holiday food: a turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing. He didn’t have a beard, but he smiled kindly. His hair was white. He leaned over toward me and handed me a coupon, “I think you need this.” I shook my head because it was a store loyalty coupon, and I was pretty sure it had to be used with a certain loyalty card account number. “I do

I have this habit of over-dramatically saying, "This person wouldn't even listen to Jesus Christ himself!" when I get particularly frustrated with a difficult person (ahem...teen). When I say it, I am honestly just being sassy and maybe even a bit thoughtless. This morning I was working on the passage I will be teaching in Sunday school this week, Isaiah 52 and 53, where Jesus is described as the "suffering servant." I freshly realized that Jesus did actually come in the flesh to difficult, stubborn people. In fact, he is even now calling all of us mule-headed folks, and many times it doesn't make any difference. Every person still has the freedom to choose. Will we run our own show, or listen to Jesus and let him be our Lord? I would also like to point out that when he did come, he was killed by the very people he was in the process of saving. So from my perspective as his follower, should I be surprised by difficult people? Uh, no. If Jesus met wit

I hope you have someone or more than one someone in your life that inspires you. I'm blessed in that sense. I am constantly surrounded by the most amazing, inspiring women. I often feel that these ladies are the unsung heroes of everyday life. You know the ones -- the ones who keep on keepin' on even in the toughest circumstances. The ones who manage to fill lunch table conversation with laughter and joy, who will cry with you, who will bake you a birthday cake, or tell you there's something gross stuck in your teeth. One is always smiling and laughing. I've never spoken to her without a hug or an "I love you," maybe even both. She teaches a tough science course and is always thinking of new and better ways to engage her students. She helps them find pumpkin DNA in the fall and is legendary for her homey holiday sweaters. She wears them with joy because she really does love Halloween, Thanksgiving, and especially Christmas. She is so dedicated to her stud

I was a spy today. Sometimes that happens when you're teaching; you see and hear things you, as an adult, were not meant to see or hear. Most of the time I wish I could un-see or un-hear it. Use your imagination: obscene gestures, profanity, or just plain old meanness.    Here's a little background. It seems there are a few students who've moved into our little community over the summer, so they're just getting to know everyone, a daunting task when you're a self-conscious teen in a small town high school where everybody already knows everybody else. I'm not just making an assumption here. I teach writing classes, so I often have an open doorway into the hearts and minds of my students. In fact, just a few days ago a girl in one of my classes turned in a paper that made my heart a little tender. In it, she detailed all the times she's moved and how hard it can be to leave old  friends behind and make new ones.  Here's where the spying part comes

Summer's nearly over. In just a few days, all the concerns about the new school year will rush in, and I'll be consumed by it completely. For now, I find myself languishing in a lovely middle ground. I have rested from all the demands of last year, and since the new year is still several days away, I'm in a good place. I'm a tiny bit bored in a pleasant sort of way, which is what led me to re-watch an old romantic comedy I already saw years ago -- New in Town .  I remember watching the movie when came out in 2009, but there's something about it I forgot. It slipped my mind that one of the characters in the movie is an uncomfortably exact reflection of me. Let's just say it isn't Renee Zellweger's character Lucy -- if only. As I saw the film again a few days ago, I was transported back to 2009. The first time I watched the movie I was transfixed -- not by the plot, the actors, or any kind of amazing special effects. On the whole the movie is just wha