Judy Hagey Editor

Write Justified

Seasonal

Christmas, Easter, Lent, Patriotic

Anticipation is a Gift

Anticipation is a gift. Perhaps there is none greater. Anticipation is born of hope. Indeed it is hope’s finest expression. In hope’s loss, however, is the greatest despair. ~Steven L. Pack Although it’s another month before we flip the calendar to a new year, for Christians, Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year. This season invites us to prepare to celebrate the birth of the Messiah as well as to anticipate his return—his second coming. In a year in which we’re anticipating a COVID vaccine, economic relief, and a “return to normalcy,” we might be forgiven for balking at …

Read moreAnticipation is a Gift

Our Corona Crucible

I don’t expect to find spiritual wisdom or encouragement in my daily perusal of the Wall Street Journal, but Daniel Henninger’s P.S. to his April 9 opinion piece  caught my attention: “For Christians and Jews, this is among the holiest weeks of the year, when in a word, all prepare spiritually for Easter and Passover. Both events are about passing into and out of a crucible. Inside these faiths, loss becomes endurable through the promise of deliverance. It’s worth remembering for at least one week.”[1] Crucible is one of those old-time words we don’t use much in the twenty-first century. …

Read moreOur Corona Crucible

Of Mother Love and Ugly Ornaments

For years, one of our family’s Christmas traditions consisted of our own version of Where’s Waldo. Only my husband and his mother played. The object of their hide and seek was not a person but an ornament Bob had made as a Cub Scout. Proponents of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle would be impressed at the creativity displayed in his recycled Styrofoam ball, toothpicks and flashbulbs topped off with red and gold glitter. (For readers younger than 30, before the digitization of photography, cameras used flashbulbs when natural light was limited.)

Read moreOf Mother Love and Ugly Ornaments