The starfish sits on our dining room table, a few feet away from the white Christmas tree I found at the Goodwill. There is a lot of white in that room and I like it that way.

White is the color of space.

And so we head into 2013 in a few days and I find myself longing for the beach already. I do odd things in the midst of change, in the shifting from the right-now to the will-be. I tend to rush ahead to the next thing, but I don’t do it as much as I used to.

Sit, girl. Stay in the place where you are.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will stand in front of hundreds of college students and speak out loud about the things I know for sure – the grace and love God has for his people. I speak at 2 EST. Pray for courage?

Even as I write that, I think of Newtown, I think of Jennie’s friend Sarah in a hospital in Texas, I think of Nish giving birth to a brand new baby girl in Utah, I think of home here in North Carolina. There is much to grieve and there is much to celebrate, all at the same time.

Jesus is the courage we all so desperately need, no matter what we’re doing.

May your weekend be filled with thoughtful reflection and hopeful anticipation.