Mixed Blessings (Part 1) | Jake Haber

Join us for Part 1 of our new Christmas series - Mixed Blessings - as we look at the full emotional experience of the holidays, focusing on freeing ourselves from expectations.

 

Quotes:

Mignon McLaughlin:

“Life is a mixed blessing, which we vainly try to unmix.”

 

Buddha:

“In life, we can’t always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. The second arrow is optional.”

 

Zen Proverb:

“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.”

 

John Lennon:

“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans”

 

Luke 2: 1-7:

"About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire…Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel."

 

Laura Vanderkam:

“Every yes is a no, and every no is a yes”

 

Thomas Huebl:

“The crisis and the miracle are very close to each other”

 

Discussion Questions:

1. When did the holidays not go as planned?

2. What are some expectations you can drop this year?