Second Youth Indy

Love Love is... Love is decisive. Love is relentless. Love is stubborn. Love is no matter what. Love is no matter when. Love is no matter the cost. Love is "yes, and". Love is "with". Love is that thing, that mysterious, indescribable thing which holds us together when all else seems to be crumbling apart. Love is reckless and illogical. Love stands when it more convenient to sit. Love stays when it is easier to leave. Love is silent when all you want to do is speak. Love speaks even when fear tries to steal your voice. Love is beyond us, Yet simultaneously dwells within us. Love makes no sense. Yet love is the only thing that makes sense out of our everyday nonsense. Love cannot be found... because Love is. This Advent, we await the arrival of Love made flesh. If you listen closely you may even hear Love's voice... in the cry of a child. As Love, the love that is the presence of all of love comes down to make its dwelling with us; within us. Love is... 1 John 4

Photo by  Tim Mossholder  on  Unsplash   A few weeks ago, our oldest child, Ella, in the middle of playing in her room randomly said, “I wish coronavirus was a dream. Then it would just go away.”   Same.   And honestly, in that moment, I thought to myself, “I wish all of 2020 were a dream. Then it would just go away.”   I know, what an overwhelming sentiment of joy.  And yet, in this season of Advent, that is a part of the invitation – Who brings you joy? What brings you joy? When have you felt joy? Where is the joy? How have you experienced joy?    In a year like 2020, joy is a lot like that fancy new gift everyone wants, but no one can seem to find. Our “shopping carts” are empty and we’re left feeling defeated and deflated.    As I’ve been reflecting on joy, I got to thinking about the shepherds. Remember them from Luke’s gospel? (See Luke 2:8-20)    They were simply minding their business, “keeping watch over their flock,” when all of a sudden, an “angel of the Lord” appeared. Righ

  As we enter the holiday season and the second week of Advent, where are we practicing peace? In any other year, this week's devotion would be focused on centering ourselves in a season of immense hustle and bustle. Of quieting ourselves in a world of feverish shopping for the perfect gifts, and sneaking calming moments between getting the whole household packed and ready for holiday vacations and trips to visit family and friends. And maybe some of that is still our world this year, but much of it isn't. This year should have allowed us to have the least distractions we've ever had for taking care of ourselves. After all, we've spent much of it at home (whether by choice or not) and many of us have gotten the most time around our families we've had in years - if not ever. Yet the anxiety and distraction of the unknown, and the fact that our ability to be present with those in our own household is a muscle that probably had a bit too much atrophy before March, has