“The Father of lights”—that is your name, A blinding brilliance among heavenly hosts, For even angels with wings of flame Can’t stare at Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Who is God? No question could run deeper, span wider, or coast longer on the words of men. There’s a rich deposit in Scripture of proper names […]
“The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.” Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p. 17 As I spoke recently with The Laymen’s Lounge about The Book of Giving, one point that kept coming up in our conversation was God’s prodigality (his being excessively lavish) in the good […]
I read a very striking quote some time ago. It was written by Douglas Meeks. “God owns by giving.”1 Think about that for a moment. When we think about ownership, other words come to mind: possessing, taking, buying, keeping. But giving? How is that possible? In a mysterious and beautiful way, it’s possible with love. […]
Christmas is synonymous with giving. Some people estimate that the average American will spend around $800 in 2020 on Christmas gifts. That’s somewhere north of 465 billion dollars for the nation. That’s a lot of money. Where does it all go? Well, one study found that 16 billion dollars are wasted each year on unwanted […]
God’s attributes can seem like suns we stare at. They’re so big and bright that we can’t look at them for more than a moment. Unfortunately, that also means we have a very hard time letting their light shine fully into the ordinary moments of our souls. In this post and many to follow, I […]