Morning Briefings

If we had no winter, spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

– Anne Bradstreet
Meditations Divine and Moral (1655)

Winter is a season of some very real losses. The flowers of springtime are gone; leaves fall. Trees stand bare and revealed. But from these losses are gifts to be had.

– Kathleen Fischer
Winter Grace: Spirituality and Aging

I reflected back over the past several months. It was hard to believe that the broken leg, kidney stones, lost work, financial stress, three surgeries and the cancer scare had all happened in half a year’s time. I realized I had been feeling like I’d been in a fight. For months I’d had my guard up waiting for the next punch life could throw. Now, though, I felt completely relaxed. If I’d let my mind roll with that boxing metaphor a little longer, I might’ve followed it to its logical conclusion: In a boxing match, the fighters absorb some vicious blows because they’re ready for them. And usually, the knockout punch was the one they didn’t see coming.

– Todd Burpo
Heaven is for Real

‘We don’t use money in heaven,’ Guardian Angel Clarence explained to despondent businessman George Bailey who replied, ‘Oh yeah–comes in pretty handy down here, bub.’

– Henry Travers as Clarence, James Stewart as George
It’s a Wonderful Life

Dealing with the Places of Barrenness: Nouwen points out that ‘we live in a society in which loneliness has become one of the most painful human wounds.’

– Charles Ringma
Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen

For America’s Santas, It’s Hard to be Jolly with the Tales They’re Hearing: In Hard Times, Kids Ask for Bare Essential: Shoes, Eyeglasses and a Job for Dad

– Stu Woo
The Wall Street Journal

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

– Helen Keller