Send your Pen Pal a homemade Christmas Card or a Christmas greeting via email to help spread JOY.

If you choose to include a letter, consider writing about what you are anxiously awaiting. Are you HOPING for a special gift or to see certain friends or family? How does your family demonstrate LOVE and kindness, at Christmas and throughout the year?

GIVE HOPE

O Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay and you are the potter. We are the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

The virtue of hope is a response to our desire for happiness, which God has placed in our hearts. Hope leads to love, and we receive love in the most beautiful way at the end of Advent when we meet the Baby Jesus in the manger.

SHARE PEACE

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather his lambs in his arms. Isaiah 40:11

What is peace? Is it silence? Is it smiles? Is it sleep? Peace is not merely the absence of fighting or lack of conflict. Peace in our hearts grows as we work for a closer relationship with each other and with the Lord.

This week focus on sharing peace with those around us.

BRING JOY

As a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up.... Isaiah 61:11

Joy is often used as another word for happiness. If we turn to the Bible, we see that joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Joy comes from God, who graces us with every good thing and with his ever lasting love.

This week focus on brining joy to those around us.

LIVE LOVE

The child to be born will be holy, he will be called Son of God. Luke 1:35

This week, we're looking at how to live love. Love is the third and greatest virtue after faith and hope.

To live love as we move into the Christmas season is to embrace the example that Jesus gave us. In a world you can choose anything, choose kindness.