heather choate davis

Mary, did you know?

I have quite a few friends with new babies this Christmas. Some are believers, some are not. But each one of them knows the feeling— because every mother on the planet knows the feeling— that is captured in this lyric: “The child that you delivered will soon deliver you.” I remember the first time IContinue reading “Mary, did you know?”

Your children are not your children

I finished putting up the Christmas decorations last night and found myself a little sad. My kids are grown now and no amount of ornaments or angels or twinkling lights can bring back those many joyful years of “making Christmas” for the children. But of all the things we did for them throughout the AdventContinue reading “Your children are not your children”

Let it be so

This early 20th-century painting of the annunciation seems to me to transcend time and place. This Mary could be any woman, this angel the messenger of any sort of epiphany— a new wisdom, a haunting reversal, clarity alone in the midnight hours. The sort of inescapable truth about our lives to which we can onlyContinue reading “Let it be so”

Your Timing

Today, as we move into week 2 of Advent and ever deeper into winter, we have a prayer by Ted Loder from his book Guerillas of Grace: Grant me Your Sense of Timing O God of all seasons and senses, grant me your sense of timing to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turnContinue reading “Your Timing”

Sharing the mystery

This beautiful illustration from the children’s book The Legend of Poinsettia by Tomie DePaola captures everything I love about gathering together this time of year. How the people— young and old alike— enter as one to share the sacred mystery. How they leave behind the proud faces and postures of everyday life to walk humblyContinue reading “Sharing the mystery”