Did you ever hear the saying, “Everything happens for a reason”? When I hear this statement, depending on the “thing that happened”, I find myself either nodding in agreement or shaking my head in irritation. How can I have such opposite reactions to one statement? Do I really believe that things happen for a reason? When something really good happens – meeting a new friend, getting a new job, receiving an unexpected financial blessing – it is easy to say that it has happened for a reason. On the other hand, when I think of some of the painful and difficult things that happen in life –...

As I look out my window on this fine spring morning, I see green everywhere. I can hear a few dozen birds singing. And there is a gentle rain falling. At times like this, when I can see the change of the seasons happening right before my eyes, it always seems to put me in mind of the cycles of life. For all life seems to move in cycles of rebirth, growth, retreat, and dormancy. This ‘spring’ part of the cycle is a time of great beginnings. Everywhere we look, new life is emerging with joy and abandon. I see it in myself as I seem to come out of my winter sluggishness with renewed energy and zest...

“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising...