Truth and Encouragement for 2026

our back yard 
(before we replaced the mulch with river rock)

Well hello everybody! It's good to be with you in this New Year of 2026. 

my neighbor's Bougainvillea -- in January!

North Central Florida has been experiencing the depths of winter (about as cold as it gets here). I've enjoyed wearing my socks, ankle-length blue jeans, long sleeves, and (on some days) even an undershirt! Some mornings it's just been too cold to ride our bicycles here in the neighborhood. Forty-five degrees is just about my breaking point, and at that, there needs to be little-to-no wind! 

"Me and My Shadow"

But I usually still take a walk in our immediate community (our +55 neighborhood has some 16 of these communities). That walk, which is a BIG circle, is 1.3 miles. I don't walk fast these days, maintaining that movement, the sunshine, and fresh air are benefitting me even if I don't get the heart rate pumping hard and fast. (excuse the honesty, but I don't like to sweat!!)

yellow cornbread in the cast iron wedge pan

Cold weather calls for warm comfort foods. For New Year's we did not have my family's traditional black-eyed peas. I'm not at all superstitious but in my growing up years it was my mother's habit to include these legumes for "good luck." 😏

While I like black-eyed peas, a few years ago I decided to give up on them. Superstition or not, I had a terrible year, so maybe discarding the peas would be a little helpful? 

I did bake a pan of cornbread and accompanied that with sliced ham. We plan to have the leftovers of that for our supper tonight.

our dining table

All of the Christmas decorations have been packed away with the exception of this table runner. I bought it at Hobby Lobby in early December and just love it. The table may stay this way until I pull out a runner for Valentine's Day!

the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California

Gary turned on the Rose Parade but we did not watch all of it. Even with the benefits of HD TV, it doesn't hold my attention as much as it used to. But there are still some very clever floats.

Some people tend to get philosophical at this time of year as they assess the past 12 months, their lives, current events, and so forth. I've collected some thoughts that have come my way that are worth pondering. This one (which I may have shared before) came from Sister:

It's true. That makes me smile every time I read it. There is no doubt that carbs tend to comfort the broken heart, at least temporarily!

Then there is this, which may frustrate at the first reading, but it carries a lot of good sense:

Literally just let people be wrong about you.

It does not matter.

Live with integrity and

let inaccurate opinions fall away on their own.

The rest will sort itself out.

(by Liz Ann on Facebook)

This is a quote I've had in the right column of my blog for about a year and I think it's worth leaving there:

(from theologian Randy Alcorn)

All of us have not always responded well to things in life, so we need to forgive ourselves, as well as others. Hard circumstances often bring out the worst in us. We need to keep that in mind when observing people. Given time, kindness, and the grace of God, people work through the tough stuff and are often better for the experience. (and if they don't forgive us, then scroll back up to the quote about letting people be wrong about you. God knows the heart.)

As I said in my last post, we can't take our next breath or even blink our eyes except with God's mercy, so no matter what our situation, God has been good. Quoting from faithful grace.com:

When you recount God's faithfulness in the past twelve months, it strengthens your trust for the year ahead.

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

Psalm 77:11

I close with this very pretty picture and another encouraging thought from CoffeeWithMyFather:

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara