New Year's Eve

Christmas is over and we've been blessed beyond measure. We are old and don't need or want "things" any more. So our family tends more toward consumable gifts or passing on family treasures  or remembrances to the next generation. It's all good, but my heart turns to some children we know who don't have reliable parents and need foster care, to homeless people who sleep near noisy railroad tracks or under a bridge, to the man who wraps himself in black plastic bags to keep warm in the winter.

Mother Teresa said, "If I look at the masses, I won't act, but if I look at one, I can."

Proverbs 14:31 says, "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."

Throughout the year I've collected quotes on little pieces of paper, but New Year's Eve is the time to let go of the old year and prepare for the new. Before I tear and toss, I'll share a few:

"Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many." Max Lucado

"I want to develop whatever gifts God has given me, but gift development almost never happens for me if I let my schedule drift." John Ortberg

Here are two invaders:
1. We are too busy - we feel we must accomplish things. God wants us to just be with Him. Ps. 46:10
2. Technology lures us away from relationships, away from intimacy.

Meth dehumanizes
Bullying dehumanizes
Pornography dehumanizes
Alcoholism dehumanizes

We see Jesus not as a Savior,but as a Supplement.

Relationships will change. What is there in your life that won't give way?

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you, I lift up my soul" Ps.143:8

The last little scrap of paper I saved says, 1 C peanut butter, 1 C sugar, 3 eggs. I have no idea what it becomes, but it is gluten free.
Insightfully yours,
Paulita