Other people drive me crazy. They disappoint me. They irritate me. They put far too much importance on things which do not matter. They care too much about appearances. They are vain and selfish, self centred and self-serving.
If someone fails to live up to my expectations of how they should be, I am not slow to say it out loud, usually in an unhelpful manner to someone else.
Sometimes I want to run away and find new people who won’t be like this, who won’t disappoint me, who won’t make me want to moan about them.
Yes, a whole bunch of things about logs and specks springs to mind at this point, but that’s not where I’m going with this. We no doubt all have a list of things we’d change about individuals and about our church. But there is good stuff too. And all I really want to say today is remember the good stuff.
We are a family. And I am so so so grateful that I get to celebrate not just Christmas, but the whole of God’s great story with you, week by week.

Dear Lord, help me to climb down from my high horse.
Teach me some humility.
Thank you so much for my messy, sometimes dysfunctional and disappointing family.
Help me to be generous in forgiving their imperfections, and quick to see the ways in which they reflect you.
Help me to celebrate them.
[Ruth Dickinson]