There’s a story behind this card: 

For most of 2023, I wondered if this might be the year when taking a family Christmas card photo (a tradition that’s come to mean a whole lot to me) would just not happen.  The kids are grown.  Lives are busy and constantly changing.  For so many reasons, the prospect of having everyone together - with taking a photo even registering as a priority - seemed bleak.  I was working on telling myself that if this turned out to be the year that ended, it woudn’t be the end of the world…        

But I did keep hoping.  And then, at the end of October, a “possible” day did emerge!  Everyone could be available, and bless their hearts, they were willing.  We immediately put the date, a Sunday afternoon, on our calendars.  The week leading up to it would end up bringing the most gloriously beautiful weather we’d see all fall.  A dear friend, who also happens to be a talented photographer, had also cleared her schedule.  She knows us:  How we live.  What we love.  How we love.  To have this chance… complete with her heart to capture our hearts… especially this year?  It felt like a rare and precious opportunity.  Other than at Brandi and Cody’s wedding (already five years ago!) we’ve never had a professional family photo taken.  So, this would be special, and all systems were go! 

But then… that glorious fall weather?  It also went.  We woke up on this day, the one day upon which I’d now pinned so much hope, to pouring - and I mean pouring - rain.  The kind that just doesn’t stop.  Knowing what they say about the best laid plans, I began once again to think that maybe this would be the year with no photo after all… Several rainy hours in, I regretfully told Brandi that we should probably just cancel.  It’s asking a lot of everyone to do this at all anymore, let alone in pouring rain on a Sunday afternoon when they could be doing anything they want.  I expected ready agreement (probably even relief) with cancelling.  But instead, she said, “I say we just go for it!” 

So, we did. 

And I’m so thankful.  Because, somehow, just for one little pocket of time… at exactly the right time… the rain stopped.  And actually, it had made the colors of the leaves even more beautiful and vibrant.  Also?  We had fun!  Instead of the usual stress-fest that comes with getting 5-6 people and one dog all looking halfway right at the same time, and working a remote or a timer to snap the photo ourselves - we laughed and had fun.  Even when, toward the end of our session, the rain picked up again.  But by then, we had what we needed.  We moved to the patio, lit a fire, poured some wine, and had a beautiful evening.  The rain continued all night, and by morning, most of the leaves were gone.  …Regardless of how things had looked at so many points along the way, everything – all the way down the timing – had actually worked out better than I ever imagined. 

So now you see a photo, and you know the story behind it.  But it’s not the whole story…  

Because for a while that rainy day, I’d caught myself thinking dejectedly, “Of course it WOULD rain today after this beautiful week…”  Because somehow, it comes so naturally to think “just my luck” kind of thoughts…

But even as I thought that, I knew I needed to check myself.  And that I should really never say or think anything like that again.  Because the truth is, maybe not exactly according to my plans or in ways I expect, but life has actually proven to me that things do work out. 

At the time, I didn’t even realize what a metaphor for our whole year that one day would provide.

…On one hand, as becomes truer with each passing year, I wonder where the time has gone; and how it’s gone so quickly.  But then on the other hand… I look back to all that’s transpired, and I wonder how all of that could possibly have happened in a single year.  Life.  In all its ups and downs; twists and turns; sorrows and joys. 

Looking back now, I can’t help noticing:  Both the very best things that happened in our lives this year, and the very hardest actually share some things in common:  Most were unexpected, and also mostly unseen… The stories behind the story that other people might have seen. 

And in a way I hope will inform the way I see and think about all things “unexpected” in the future, everything really has worked out.  Even the hardest things.  The ones that, at certain points, didn’t look promising at all.  In ways that have brought forth gifts I don’t know that we would have received; beauty… much like that of those vibrantly wet leaves on that day that almost didn’t happen… that I don’t know that I would have as fully appreciated any other way. 

It’s all worked together to remind me, maybe in the most meaningful way ever, of something really true:  No matter how much anything – good or hard – is unexpected to me.  It never is to God.  I’ve seen His hand in everything this year.  Not because it was new there.  It’s always been there.  But because I’m learning to welcome it; look for it; notice it; and trust it.  And my life, the good parts, the hard parts, and all the “ordinary” parts in between, is changed - in the best possible way - because of that. 

The longer I live, the more I learn:  Real, “ordinary” life is usually made up of the “unexpected.” (Maybe I should just stop being surprised by it!)  And there is always a “story behind the story.” Often, the unexpected, unseen parts of life turn out to be the most important, most transformative parts.  Most of all, I’ve learned that if I seek, notice, and trust God in them, things really do work out.  Usually, in ways better than I could ever expect. 

And since that has been the theme of our year… and maybe even the theme of God’s purpose for my life… that is the message I want to share with you this Christmas.    

Love.  Joy.  Peace.  Hope.