Occasionally in life, we have watershed moments, some life-defining occurrence that suddenly sends our life or our perspective on life in a different direction. I have had several watershed moments in my life, and the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 1:21 reminded me of one of them.

My wife and I have a few reality TV series that we like to watch. Over a year, we binge-watched the cooking show “MasterChef Australia” relying heavily on closed captioning to comprehend the Aussie accent.

In three decades of preaching and writing, I have had a growing appreciation for how often it is the smallest words that make the biggest difference. Dwarfed by their larger companions, they seem insignificant, but they are not.

A blank page, or screen in this digital age, is intimidating for a writer. In your head is a jumble of ideas, each one a potential vehicle for a creative journey, but like cars in rush hour traffic, they are backed up with none moving forward.

I have a favorite Christmas hymn that I am uncomfortable singing. It is one of the most beloved Christmas hymns, and I love it too, with reservation. I am a man conflicted! The hymn is “Away in a Manger,” a song mistakenly attributed to Martin Luther.

I have a friend who is obsessed with the proper use of grammar. One time when going through TSA security screening at the airport, he felt the need to correct the TSA agent’s grammar.

November 27th was the first Sunday of Advent; its theme was hope. When Winston Churchill learned that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States had entered World War II, he said, “Silly people, and there were many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States…But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch. American blood flowed in my veins.

I knew it was inevitable, the culture has long been drifting in that direction, and it is just a slogan, but I still cringed when I heard it used in this way. “This is the reason for the season,” a commercial for who-knows-what cheerily declared.

My wife has an endearing habit that I am gradually making my own. She says, “thank you,” for everything I do. If I take out the trash, she says, “Thank you for taking out the trash.” When we go grocery shopping, she says, “Thank you for helping me do the shopping.”