Welcome to In a Word, a newsletter that cultivates thoughtfulness, one word at a time. If a friend forwarded you this email, click here to subscribe:
Hey there!
If you’ve been here for awhile, you know that each issue of In A Word closes with a benediction. (If this is your first issue, welcome. This is a Very Special Issue, so if you’d like to get a taste for what In A Word is typically like, check out Issue 26: Attention.)
Christmas and year-end benedictions are often my favorites to write each year. I decided to try something new and make them available as cards! Opening an online card shop wasn’t in the…well, cards, (sorry, had to,) so I worked with Erin to design them as printables:
“May we have eyes to see the beauty in our midst, arms to embrace our proximate people, feet planted where we are, and hands ready to do good, here and now.”
“May we raise empty hands and empty glasses, releasing 2019 and greeting 2020 with hope.”
“May the peace of God With Us awaken our joy and soothe our souls.”
“May we wonder once more, with shepherd’s awe, at hope that came clothed in newborn skin.”
"A star glowed brightly above, a harbinger of love; a light shining in the darkness that would not be overcome.”
Use them as holiday cards, gift tags, or alongside a photo card!
Since this issue isn’t themed around a word like usual, I’m sharing some of my favorite holiday finds!
Watch for the Light has been one of my favorite Advent companions for the past few years. It features daily readings by an array of writers. If you pick it up, a few of my favorites are by Henri Nouwen, Kathleen Norris, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther.
Want to Get into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness. This was so good.
To practice Advent is to lean into an almost cosmic ache: our deep, wordless desire for things to be made right and the incompleteness we find in the meantime.
I Am a Trader Joe’s Parking Lot, and I Am Here to Destroy You
This helped me laugh at the unique hell of circling the Trader Joe’s parking lot (which somehow gets even more crowded during the holidays).
PS. I’ll be sharing my favorite Trader Joe’s stocking stuffers in my find of the week on Instagram soon! Join me there.
My friend Stephanie wrote wise, soothing words in 5 Ways to Honor Grief This Holiday Season:
I am no expert on grief. I am only someone who is grieving. I don’t want to idolize my grief, yet I cannot diminish it. So I choose to honor it.
You may remember my friend Courtney from the Vacation Postcard. She makes me laugh (and wash my face) every time I watch her Instagram Stories about taking skincare…to the nips.
Her passion for skin (and breast) care took on new meaning when her friend Amy told her she has breast cancer. Courtney is selling these headbands to support Amy. (All proceeds will go to Amy and her family.) I can’t wait to use mine when I wash my face! DM Courtney for details if you’d like one. (A perfect stocking stuffer for a sister or friend!)
Some last links worth a click:
Kendra has curated no fewer than NINE holiday playlists for us, each for a different mood and purpose. (Holiday Starlight was the perfect background music for compiling this newsletter.)
Homemade Eggnog with Rum (I love eggnog but have never made my own. Maybe this is the year!)
A tear-off pep talk tree? Mary Laura Philpott has the best ideas.
I shared this on Instagram on Thanksgiving-eve, and it seems like the right note to end on here in Advent’s early days:
We often give thanks in retrospect, for the tangible good and named joy we see clearly. But gratitude can also be a daring show of good faith, that we believe all will be well while it is not yet.
Shadows and clouds need not fully disperse before we turn our faces toward the sun. Even the fog of uncertainty is cause for gratitude—
To know all is to be like gods, a burden we would certainly crumble beneath. And so it is grace, to know only what we can handle, to sit in mystery, to leave the summoning of the sun to God.
I hope you love the benedictions! They are my gift to you. My gratitude for you is beyond measure.
xo Jacey
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