Can you see it?  Can you smell it?  Can you taste it?  The crisp, warm, buttery, toasty crunch oozing with cheesy flavored goodness?  Smashed together and heated up – the results are divine!

But what if the ingredients weren’t combined?  What if they weren’t heated up?  Just imagine the cold slices of lunch meat sitting on a plate.  The cheese in a block still needing to be put to use.  Any other toppings alone in their jars in the fridge.  Not quite the same.  Not warm.  Not delicious.  Not good.

How are you and your relationships?  Feeling all warm and cozy and united?  Or kind of separated and cold?  Even if it means you need to get all squishy, messy and heated up, God wants you to be a Panini!

“make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”  Philippians 2:2

Long lines and long names sometimes make ordering a coffee a chore…..even if the sweet treat at the end is worth it!

But then I consider a good cup of tea.  The slow boil, the flavor selection, the special cup and thennnnnn the peaceful sip.  Totally different than coffee, tea has its own special role to play.

Like beverages, God has given us seasons to embrace and celebrate!

If these days of February seem long or cold or dark, acknowledge the power and plan of our Almighty Creator, Divine Wisdom, Loving Father and rest in Him!

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him”  Psalm 37:7

I was trying to get settled in church on Sunday….my coffee cup in one hand, my phone appropriately silenced (but let me check a few more times juuuuuust to be 100% sure), my purse filled with a million “just in case” comforts and my notebook and pen….now to find my husband who was already seated.  I come sliding in during the second song and prepare my heart for worship.

Looking around I giggled realizing the similarities between church habits and travel habits.  Some people travel very “smartly”.  Matching bags, easy access, all the wheels spinning in the same direction.  No snack bags or leaking water bottles.  They walk on to a plane and sit down.  They are prepared. 

And then there are the rest of us!  Ultimately, just as prepared – it just looks a little different!

What about in our walk with the Lord?  Our attitudes and our habits?  Do we prepare daily for the journey God has planned for each one of us?

Get your own seatbelt on first and get ready for take off!

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”  I Peter 1:13

Consider trying on a bathing suit cover up in January….The tag says, ‘One Size Fits All’, but we ALL know that one size NEVER fits all!

So why do we do it?  Why do we judge?  Why do we push our expectations and preferences on others?

God made one of you.  And one of your co-worker.  Aaaaand one of your “you know who”.  Each person is an individual.  When there is only one of a kind it can’t be better than another.  There isn’t another!  One can’t be ahead and one can’t be behind.

Next time you look in the mirror or across the room, consider God as the wise and all-knowing Creator!  One God Fits All!!!

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”  Genesis 1:27

Has your New Year been smooth and easy?  Everything going your way?  Ummmm….probably not.  Some people are suffering….other people are realllllly suffering.  How are we supposed to navigate these days of sickness and tragedy and trauma?

When life doesn’t make sense it’s a natural reaction to dig deeper.  Try harder.  Find answers.  What else can we do with the anxiety?  How do we process the pain?  

I wish I could send you all a RESET button.  A STOP sign for worry.  A DETOUR sign for despair. (and keep one of each for myself!)  But better than that, we can seek the Lord.  Seek His Word.  Proclaim His promises.  Put down our phones and hold tight to Him with BOTH hands!

“I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.  In your distress you called and I rescued you,”  Psalm 81:6,7

I read recently that yesterday, Monday, January 6, 2025, was called the New York New Year!?  It is the beginning of the first full week of the new year.  (I don’t know what that has to do with New York, but that’s beside the point!) 

Isn’t it funny that God would send a snowstorm on that Monday?  Our first full week started with…a day off!  🙂

I just love how God continues to remind us over and over again – in the silly little date things and in the huge life changing traumas and trials, that HE IS IN CONTROL!  HE KNOWS!  HE SEES!  HE LOVES YOU!

“Cease striving and know that I am God;”  Psalm 46:10

Ready or not here it comes!  Not 2025 – but every next year, month, day, hour, minute, second.

How will you spend each moment?  Growing closer to Jesus or growing away from Him?

Positive growth IS possible – even the Grinch’s heart grew 3 sizes!

“growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father”. Colossians 1:10-12

What were Joseph and Mary doing one week before Jesus was born? They were doing what God created them to do.  And they were expecting and seeking the Messiah.

What are you doing one week before Christmas? What has God created you to do? Are you seeking and expecting the Messiah?

Let’s get the right things on our long to-do lists!

“Seek out the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.”  I Chronicles 16:11

We all know people who are going through challenges.  What can one little person do to make things better for them?  How can we erase the pain and answer all the questions?  We can’t!  And even though we know the One Who CAN supply all their needs (Philippians 4:19), there is still something WE CAN do.  We can Stand.  With them.  For them.  By them.

Serving and giving can be inconvenient.  Well….cancer and divorce and trauma are very inconvenient as well!  If we want to Stand with friends, we will do the inconvenient.  We will love large!  We will walk with family and friends in a way that blesses not us – but them!

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8

It’s that time of year!  LOTS of lists going on everywhere!

Make your list, but check it twice….how many items on your list are external vs internal?  How many are temporary vs eternal?  How much of your list is for you vs for someone else?

Let’s make the REAL reason for this season be at the top of your every list!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,”  John 3:16