A letter to my family and friends,
Happy New Year to you all!
May you experience God’s peace this year of 2014.
I am sitting here in my home, satisfied and feeling very
blessed.
My boys have just finished eating some homemade pumpkin
soup and ice-cream for dessert…I know pumpkin soup is not the most summery
dish, but you see the pumpkins were given to me and I don’t like to waste food
when possible. But I truly love to see
my kids eating and enjoying healthy food that I have prepared for them, it
makes me feel so good inside…and I have been thinking about my other friends
who work so hard to show love and care for the children in their lives and the excitement
of a brand new year.
Honestly I do not know what 2014 will hold for us, but what
I am thinking about, rather than making resolutions, is fixing our attentions
on continuing to love and serve the young people in our lives.
There always seems to be such a push for ‘new’ goals, ‘new’
plans, ‘new’ ideas and basically just new commitments due to the fact it’s a ‘new’
year…but what about a resolution to remain committed, rather than another self-orientated
goal?
I understand this is counter-cultural and perhaps will be
scoffed at by some who don’t really know me, thinking that I don’t really
understand New Year resolutions at all!
But
seriously we know that not many New Year resolutions are stuck to…
So today here I sit, thinking about all my wonderful
friends and family members I know, who selflessly are so committed to the young
people in their lives…I am truly blessed to know so many.
There are single-parents, married couples, aunts, uncles,
grandparents and so on…
I see their heart and commitment when they sacrifice their
time, money, energy and love in serving the young people in their lives.
So I decided to write a letter to you all to say, that I
notice your efforts, either in person or via FB or Google+ and really want to
encourage us all to stay committed to
the young people in our lives!
There once was a time when I thought investing in young
people was a waste of my time that I could be spending on myself - yes, admittedly
this is sadly true!
But now
I understand that every self-sacrificing act is a wonderful seed that gets
planted into that young person’s life which will later bloom into something so
beautiful…so let’s keep investing those seeds of love.
Love
to you all, Melanie J
