Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

    My mother and her family immigrated to the United States from Poland when she was just a toddler. We have continued many of the Polish traditions through the years. One of them is Wigilia, or Christmas Eve supper. It consists of twelve different foods, although not everyone prepares all twelve and there are some regional differences.   Before the meal begins, there is the sharing of the op ł atek, or Christmas wafer. In our family, the eldest would bring the op ł atek to each of the other family members and they would break off a piece and eat it as the eldest asked God’s blessing on them for the coming year.   I vividly remember my grandmother’s blessing for many years was to “…..be healthy, be happy, find yourself a nice wife”. I’ve had a wonderful wife for the past 31 years so I guess the blessing turned out well!   As I write this on Christmas Eve, I pray that God’s richest blessings might be yours in the coming year.   May you know His love and...

  My wife mailed out our Christmas cards a few weeks ago. She enclosed a letter discussing our activities for the past year. I know people have different views about Christmas letters, but I like them. I enjoy being able to catch up on what family and friends have been doing.   I know I’m dating myself when I say that I used to regularly write to and receive letters from my family and friends when I went away to college. Nowadays, I write a weekly letter to our daughter. We stay in touch during the week, but I like being able to collect my thoughts and organize them when I write. I also think that a letter shows more interest than just a phone call or a text.   With the advances in technology, we now have the capability to stay in touch with people on an almost continuous basis. I think that depth and quality of conversation have suffered as a result, replaced by shallow minute-by-minute accounts of daily life.   God wants us to keep in touch with Him. I ...

  I hate acorns. Botanically speaking, acorns are the fruit of the oak tree. We have a big oak tree in our backyard and it produces ten thousand or more acorns in a year. I’m in the yard every weekend picking them up. I also have to pull up little oak trees that sprout each spring.   In contrast, the neighborhood squirrels are thrilled to have the tree in our yard, feasting on the abundant supply of acorns and happily digging holes in the lawn to store some up for the winter.   We can learn from the oak tree. Its purpose in life is to grow and produce fruit. Some may be nourished by it, others might find it irritating, but that doesn’t matter to the tree.   It goes faithfully about its appointed task.   We are called to live fruitful lives, to give of ourselves freely and abundantly. That is our nature if we are one with Christ, who gave of Himself freely and abundantly. We give even though we may not see the fruits of our giving, or even if others are r...

  We had tile flooring installed in our house this summer. The individual tiles are rectangular with a wood grain pattern. My wife made sure to tell the workers which direction she wanted the tiles to go before they started because, once they were started, there wasn’t any going back as far as the direction. The first tile determined the pattern for all the rest, otherwise the overall effect would have been an unappealing jumble.   Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed” (Isaiah 28:16). Peter and Paul refer to Jesus as the cornerstone on which the Church is built. Peter writes, “As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5). ...