Out with the old, in with the new

Out with the old! Shoes? car? beliefs? Ideas? Hair? I’m learning to embrace the new. New year? New job? New DAY? December was filled with new AND old! Traditions, circumstances, and reflections. Childhood, motherhood, and career. Before cancer and my tiny RV life to after diagnosis and city life. New treatments, old diseases. New will happen whether we want it or not. We can hang on to the “old” for comfort and familiarity (shoes anyone?). Yet, there are old things I don’t need. Even certain beliefs! As I embrace the new year, I will continue to cling to the New Covenant way of life! There’s no longer an OLD Covenant (God knew we couldn’t keep it!). Jesus, fully God and human, fulfilled the law and died in our place. I’ll embrace the NEW heart I received through faith; out with the old! How can I NOT be filled with gratitude for another day? Another year? It’s fine for me to cherish and remember the past like motherhood & RV life. But I need to live in the now…the NEW. How about you?

I’ve included 2 versions of my one pg. news (.jpg & PDF). Happy 2026!

Heavenly Hibernation

It’s been a heavenly hibernation! I’ve missed you, friends. It’s been one week since the start of a new year–I’m still here and winning because of Christ! It doesn’t mean that life isn’t challenging; nor situations easier. BUT my life & hope IN CHRIST propels me through each up and down. I expect that the more I live a surrendered life, the more the enemy will try to disrupt it. I’ll keep choosing faith over finances, hope over hard things, & peace instead of pessimism. Do you know when we choose to surrender INTO our Savior, we can experience heaven on Earth.

My resolution for 2026? I’m determined to continue “dying” to myself daily. My heart wakened several years ago for something other than the promise of heaven AFTER life. I wanted the Christ life IN ME. In letting go of earthly expectations, I can be filled with the presence of God’s power. I am aware of my utter ignorance in grasping salvation (as Andrew Murray would say). Surrender is the only way! It’s as simple as the appearance of light at morning and the shifting of seasons. Not my power, but HIS. Hibernation this winter will be heavenly (& healthy!)!

Note: Watch what happens when you add a side of silliness, a helping of humor, and a pinch of patience (ok, CUPS)!

“The day brought about an uncertainty of certainty. For this was a time of change and change does not come easily for some bears. Especially a bear named Winnie the Pooh.”
Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You

Like my activity during a typical wacky weather week in Missouri, I went from cleaning my garage on a near 70 degree day on Monday to a 60 degree drop in wind chill during the last 24 hours. Change. Aren’t we used to it?

Change is necessary; but not always easy. This morning as I walked on my treadmill (attempting to prevent further pain with the drastic temperature drop!) I watched the classic Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You. It took me back to my own childhood, my time as a Mom and teacher, and especially warm thoughts of my precious grandchildren. Don’t you love watching and doing things you did when you were younger? You’re still that dreamer if you wish :-). That’s what I love about Winnie the Pooh. In this episode he was worried Christopher Robin no longer loved him. Tigger shared that Christopher had been “bitten by a smitten” (the “love bug”)! It was time to snare another smitten to “unsmite” Christopher Robin! Low and behold, a tiny light appears on Pooh’s honey jar! It must be a smitten!

The whole gang (how do you choose a favorite?) set off on a journey that took them deep into the heart of the 100 acre wood to snare the smitten. “Which way is this way,?” asked Piglet. Beaver points and says, “That way is this way!” Eeyore pipes in, “All we know is nobody knows!” (I hear ya, Eeyore) If only Christopher Robin was there to help them find their way! The group felt alone and afraid. BUT for the smitten! It flitted while lit and tickled Pooh enough to make him follow! The cute crew, lost while searching, all saw the light and gathered around it’s “winking and a blinking”! “Whatever it is it brought us out of the dark and back together!,” exclaimed Rabbit. “He’s shining his light on all of us!”

Christopher found them. Pooh begins to release the smitten until Christopher shows a Valentine he made for a new friend. Pooh hangs his head as the others try to get him to unsmite Christopher. The smitten was released and freed. Pooh shared, “Christopher is happy and I shouldn’t want it any other way. This is the saddest Happy Valentine’s I can ever recall.”

My pic and view this morning-not the best quality, but you see why I love it–K.L. Hale

Pooh really thought Christopher had found a new friend and didn’t need his old friends. BUT…Winnie and all his friends found valentine cards at their homes. Of course Christopher had made and delivered them!

“There are places in the heart that always know a friend. In good and glad and sad times, the heart remembers them. There are new friends yet to meet, there’s a place for them to start, but old friends…always keep them…in places of the heart.”🎵 -Christopher Robin

“So as winter changes into spring which changes into summer there are things which go on forever such as a way a certain boy cares for a certain bear. And we will know for as long as we care to remember somewhere in that enchanted place on top of the forest, a boy and his bear will always be playing.”
Winnie the Pooh-A Valentine for YOU