My sister and I sparked weekly debates on the school bus, trying to convince kids that Santa was real. Our parents went the full hog when it came to Christmas time. We had a Santa Claus beard in our dress-up box that they pulled bits of white hair out of and stuck in the door, as though he’d gotten it caught when dropping off our presents.

Words are important. For me, individual words that stand alone beg to be carefully strung together to create something powerful and meaningful.

Often, we talk too much, but sometimes, we talk too little. This post is all about the latter. When we say things too often, they tend to lose meaning. But in the same breath, if we fail to say things enough, we tend to take it for granted. We need to remind those who are close to us how valued they are; how cherished, special and loved they are.

In honour of Mother’s Day, I wanted to share something special that I have asked a few people to help me with.

Picture this: your favourite singer has arrived. You’ve been waiting for this moment for what seems like forever. To see their face, up close, in person. This is literally what dreams are made of. Of course you have just paid over $300 for a ticket to their concert. Front row seats, duh. None of that ‘up the back’ business. You need to be in their presence. This is the real deal.

I paid $165 to attend an Ed Sheeran concert a couple of weeks ago. Most people would shrug that off saying, ‘yeah that’s about right’ – particularly those who were in the mosh pit. Let’s be real, it probably would have been more than double what I paid.

Crazy hey. Just to be up close and personal with someone. To experience it from a different perspective. To be in close proximity. To intentionally position themselves to be near this person they desired so much.

So why is it so different when it comes to God?