Happy New Year 2010!

As we open our new calendars, hang them on the wall, and contemplate the pretty picture and the blank spaces just waiting to be filled with appointments, birthdays, meeting times and reminder notes, let’s take time to reflect. Remember all experiences that the past year has brought, give thanks for the present, and look forward with hope to the future.

Try summarizing 2009. What do you remember about the previous January? What stands out in February? Where were you last March? Try to jot down at least one outstanding event from each month. Now count your blessings. What are you especially thankful for today? What do you love about the stage of life you’re in right now? How do you spend your time and who do you spend it with? As the New Year dawns on the horizon, to what are you looking forward? What opportunities do you anticipate? Are you open to the unexpected surprises that life inevitably brings?

Revelation 21:5 states, “Behold, I am making all things new.” God offers you an invitation to a new life that’s even better than a blank calendar page. God chooses to dwell with us and calls us to be God’s people. This means that God is not a far-off, remote deity but a living presence within each of us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live lives of grace and courage, wisdom and hope. We rely on God’s grace and we reflect that grace to each person we encounter. God’s Spirit gives us courage to make changes and wisdom to discern the right choices. Our hope does not spring from our own power but from God’s power and love.

Maybe you don’t have such good memories of 2009. Possibly your hopes for 2010 are dim. The God who is making all things new is powerful. God promises to “give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” (Revelation 21: 6) If you feel that your life is dry as the desert and your spirit is parched, let this promise from God flood your soul. Begin today to believe that God is doing a new thing in your life. If you have developed habits that are destroying you, ask God to help you change them. If you are surrounded by people who put you down and steal your joy, ask God for the courage to make new friends. If you feel lonely and in despair, know that God’s words are “trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5) You are not alone; God is with you!

Cooking up some love

I've cooked and baked more in the past two weeks than I have all year.

For Christmas parties and gifts I made: Rice Krispie treats with M & Ms, date-nut balls, Barvarian chocolate mints, cranberry nut crunch with white chocolate, chocolate oatmeal surprise cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, chocolate dipped pretzels, a chocolate mint cheese ball and a cinnamon roll X-mas tree.

For New Year celebrations I made: potato-corn chowder, turkey noodle soup, roasted vegetable dip, two pumpkin pies, fluff, and more cranberry nut crunch.

Yum!

Happy New Year!

2009 will be remembered as the year I was diagnosed with 4 (yep, four) serious health issues and the resulting consequences, surgery and recovery, and major lifestyle changes. I lost 30+ pounds, some sleep, a lot of hair, and two teenage boys. (Riff & Raff graduated from high school and went to college in a town 2 1/2 hours from home...they are not "lost" permanently...just growing up!)
I also participated in the trip of a lifetime=mission trip to Israel! The experiences and people will live in my memory forever.
I love New Year's Day! Opening the new calendar with its blank pages so full of possiblity ignites hope and energy within. I reflect on the past, give thanks for the present, and look forward to the future.
I wish you all the best and less of the mess in 2010!