December 12, 2025
This season can be hard. Both the season of short days and gray skies, and this season where the news is heavy, and many are carrying more personal burdens than we say out loud. I feel the weight of it, and I know many of you do too. And, I also do my best to find and carry hope. I suppose that is my natural inclination because it's what my parents taught me to do, and because it's what God taught me to do. God's kind of in the hope business. And I'm kind of in the God business, so... I try. Not to dismiss or ignore reality, but to remind myself, and anyone else who cares to be reminded, that even when things feel heavy, gray days are not the whole story. Even during a storm, the sun is still shining above the clouds somewhere.
Here are the things I'm noticing right now that keep me anchored in hope:
The Angel Tree gifts so many of you brought in for families who could use some help
The ways you Saint Annians check in on and care for each other without making a big deal of it but just because it's who you are
The slow, steady rhythm of Advent, reminding us that waiting is a part of the cycles of life
Counting down the days until the Winter Solstice (9 from today!)
Neighborhood whistle giveaways
Our Little Free Library
Newer Saint Annians jumping in to our community life
The new bird feeder out by the crabapple trees near the red doors. Our middle schoolers, along with compadre Doug Rude, make sure it’s filled each week. Every time I see a bird land there (I've seen woodpeckers and cardinals, and chickadees, and jays), or I see a squirrel - or a turkey! - come to snack on the hulls that drop below it, it's a reminder that life is beautiful, even when it's not, and that little things make a big difference.
None of this fixes the big, hard things. But it does remind me that the goodness of the world hasn't disappeared. My prayer for you this week is for glimmers goodness to come into your view when you need them the most. My prayer for you is for glimpses of beauty, glimpses of kindness, and glimpses of God, that remind you that even in the grayest days, hope is present and love is at work.