Discover more from The Cottage
This is the season of gifts and surprises. 🎁
Below is a memory about a gift from my daughter in 2016 — eight years ago. That year, like this one, the election results and uncertainty about the future made Christmas difficult. She understood that I was depressed and gave me a gift that I didn’t know I needed. I wrote about the gift in my book Grateful.
In addition to today’s reflection, you’ll find two Cottage gift opportunities. You can give a gift of The Cottage for a year. Or, you can give a weekend of inspiration in the form of a guest pass — an in-person ticket or a virtual admission — to the Southern Lights conference.
And, scroll to the very end for a special surprise.
🎁 GIFTS TO GIVE
⭐️ Give a year of The Cottage
Share good words, inspiration, and thoughtful takes on the religious dimensions of the issues shaping the news with your friends, family, book group, or Bible study!
⭐️ Give a guest pass to the Southern Lights Conference
The Southern Lights conference is an event that I co-convene and co-host with Brian McLaren. (Southern Lights conference isn’t produced or sponsored by The Cottage — it is an independent event.) We meet each January on St. Simons Island in Georgia to explore progressive Christian faith with extraordinary authors, speakers, and musicians.
This year, we’re gathering on Martin Luther King weekend — January 17-19 — the same weekend that is also the Inauguration. Our theme is Re-imagining Faith and the Future of Democracy. Our guests this year include Robert P. Jones, Jacqui Lewis, and Dante Stewart. For information and details, browse the Southern Lights website.
To give a guest pass for either in-person admission or a virtual pass, click here: SOUTHERN LIGHTS GIFT CARD.
Conference recordings will be available until April 30, 2025. If the gift recipient can’t attend the virtual conference in real time, the entire event can be accessed anytime until the end of April. They can watch on their own schedule!
🎁 A CHRISTMAS GIFT THAT MATTERED
An excerpt from Grateful
Gifts elicit gratitude. We like gifts. We respond to gifts.
I cannot think of gifts without thinking of Christmas. Over the years, people have given me gifts that I have forgotten, gifts I have treasured, gifts that I did not particularly appreciate, and gifts that brought forth deep gratitude. One Christmas, my daughter pulled a large box from under the tree and placed it in front of me. “Go ahead,” she said, with a hint of excitement, “Open it, please.”
Off came the paper and the lid, and inside the big box were five smaller packages. Each one had been carefully wrapped, and each bore a message that twinned with gifts of chocolate, tea, and coffee. When read together, each gift contributed to a larger message: “Times are ‘dark’ (for dark chocolate), so we need someone who is ‘counter culture’ (a coffee) and full of ‘wisdom’ (a tea) to preserve the ‘longevity’ (a tea again) of the ‘world’ (another chocolate).”
She knew that the recent presidential election had upset me – and she knew that I was working on a book that I hoped would make a difference. She did not simply give me things I liked from the grocery store. Her gift to me that morning was encouragement. Looking at the box, with all its thoughtfully created packages, wrapped with creativity and care, I knew that she – my young-adult daughter – believed in me. I had not always been certain she understood my work. But she did, perhaps even more than I knew. Small joy-tears formed. I managed to choke out, “Thank you.”
She reached toward me, I reached back, and we hugged. No gift was more urgently needed or so meaningful. . . Her gift of “I believe in you” welled up surprise, delight, appreciation, and courage – a most welcome, emotional experience of gratitude.
From Grateful: The Subversive Power of Giving Thanks
Give yourself a gift of a year at the Cottage!
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
— Christina Rossetti
On Monday, the Cottage Advent calendar surprised readers with a message from Heather Cox Richardson, the author of the indispensable newsletter, Letters from an American.
She gave us a gift. Those following the Advent calendar loved it and urged me to open it to the entire Cottage community. So, I’m sharing the gift. That’s one of the best things about gift. You can pass them on.
I have been gifted a year’s subscription of The Cottage. In one month, at 85 years of age, I have gained so much, connected with wonder minds on a deep level. I am forever grateful. The simplicity of your daughter’s gift, rich in spirit and knowing, is beyond measure. As a poet, I cherished my eldest son reading a birthday poem at my family birthday bash on Zoom. We then wrote a collective family poem loved by all. Thanks for recalling this memory that can so easily be lost in distractions.
Diana, your beautiful words spoke to what I have been feeling. Here's what I wrote in our local paper:
Letter to the Editor of the LJ World by Peter A Luckey
December 5, 2024
Be the Light
I heard the cries wafting through the Just Food pantry before I saw the child.
It was only after the mother and her toddler son finished their shopping and arrived at my volunteer post---the checkout desk---that I noticed his tear-stained cheeks.
With one arm the mom lifted her bag of produce onto the table, while cradling her son in the other. The kid gave me that “who are you?” look.
Just Food keeps a gold embroidered wooden box stocked with delectable treasures, like lollipops and tootsie rolls for moments like this.
I reached over, opened the lid, and tilted it towards him.
“Here, a present! Take one!”
The boy’s puffy face lit up. I could have been Santa Claus himself.
While still holding her lollipop sucking son, the mom gathered her groceries and left.
I’ve been thinking about that moment now that the holidays are upon us.
I’ve been slow to get into the spirit.
The negativity, the animosity, and the unfairness of the world has felt overwhelming. What can I do to bring light into this darkness, I ask myself.
Then I hear a whisper from within:
Let go of trying to fix the world. Instead, live in the moment. See the person in front of you, see this child.
Don’t just give a gift this season be the gift---the gift of light.