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How to have a truly happy new year.

For the first time in years, I don’t remember my New Year’s resolution from January. Usually, I write it down in my journal or on a note I stick to my mirror. There’s been many of those dog-eared sticky notes from years past. The year of contentment. Speaking life. We passed pancakes across the breakfast table on January 1st this year. “What do you want from 2018?” I can’t remember my answer. I know what I didn’t want though. I didn’t want to walk into her office and share the parts of my life I’m inclined to hide. I didn’t want to Facetime her the day after she delivered her baby that never breathed. I didn’t want to spend four months wondering how I’d walk into her house on Christmas day and see her empty chair. I didn’t want to go on another first date that led nowhere. We sit across from each other in a little coffee shop in Colorado, picking at a charcuterie board. “When I think about all of the things I have left to go through,” her voice cracks....

Finding Satisfaction in the Masquerade of Peace

The candles are angels, shadows of the glory of the greater God. They flicker yellow calm through the warm kitchen. The tree is wrapped up in light.

Why the discontent in hearts then?

I travel home one snowy evening before Christmas, carols and laughter echoing in my ears. And I don't say anything, but he does, gripping the steering wheel with one finger. "People are so unhappy until they learn to accept change. I remember when I was your age, and I thought I just had to grin and bear it until I got past university. Then everything would settle out and be okay. But, the decisions just get harder, you know. You have to learn now that the only constant thing about life is change. Until you embrace it, you will be very unhappy."

I cringe. There's an empty seat at our table this Christmas. What if I saw the empty chair as a place for a new guest or an opportunity for new memories?

The first Christmas was one of change, the whole world turning over in its sleep and opening its glazed eyes to the birth of God's Son. And there's one other constant thing besides change: Jesus. So, as Christmas is different this year, find contentment not in the traditions and the comforts, but in the reason for these gifts. Contentment HIMself.

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