How were we going to commit ourselves to grow in faith? How were we going to deepen our relationships with God? How were we going to better engage in our faith community in 2019?

This is the time of year many of us look back and take inventory of the things we accomplished, as well as what we left undone. Too often our focus is on the things we didn’t achieve as opposed to our successes. Why do we, as believers become so distracted by the negative rather than the positive?

How were we going to commit ourselves to grow in faith? How were we going to deepen our relationships with God? How were we going to better engage in our faith community in 2019?

Only once in my life have I celebrated Christmas twice in the same season. It was 1991 and I had celebrated a traditional Christmas with family and friends in Georgia, but on New Year’s Eve I was headed to Russia where I would celebrate Christmas again on January 7th, the traditional Christmas Day on the Russian Orthodox Church calendar.

To put it simply: Joy is a gift shared. It is not kept to oneself.