Life is TOUGH.  No matter your color, race, religion, or background, life will always bring challenges you have to face. You will be scrutinized, judged, and persecuted for your beliefs by those who think differently than you do.

When life gets tough, it’s tempting to let our hearts HARDEN ~ to view the world through the lens of our past hurts. That will leave you feeling alone.

And when we look through the tainted lens, we start to DOUBT that good still exists.  We might find ourselves losing faith in people, holding back and hesitant to trust others. The hurt caused by one person can spread, leaving us guarded and overly CAUTIOUS as if we’re constantly waiting for the past to repeat itself.

Instead of thinking “resolution”, how about TRANSFORMATION? Developing and acquiring new skills and stepping out of our comfort zone to reach our full potential. Doesn’t that sound better? Working on DEVELOPING ourselves in a positive manner rather than proclaiming we are going to do something that we have no intention of doing.

Here we are, the beginning of a NEW year! Do you find that to ge encouraging or exhausting? For many people, January 1st each year is a time to start over. A FRESH start. It’s like we consider a calendar year as being broken down into 12 chapters and those 12 chapters become a book with the year as a title “Mama P 2023”. There is a beginning and an end to each book, but many STORIES occupy those pages. There is not just one beginning though, we have so MANY beginnings throughout the year.

Life happens in stages, phases, chapters, whatever you want to call it, and none of them last forever. Stages and phases are typically used to describe the DEVELOPMENT of something, whether a human, animal, plant, etc., but they can both be used for adults as well since throughout life we are developing - mentally, physically, socially. And every phase of life has a LESSON to teach you. You need to learn the lessons and grow from them, but then let go of that phase so you can move on in your GROWTH and focus on the present phase of your life. Live, learn, and move on.

Do you ever feel like “will anybody ever remember me when I’m gone?”? I have that feeling swirl its way through my THOUGHTS every now and again. I’m not really sure why. I guess it’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m just going through the MOTIONS. I wake up and go through pretty much the same MUNDANE routines each day and then I go to bed only to do it again. That’s okay, there’s a lot of beauty in ORDINARY days. But I know there’s a reason for me being here, a PURPOSE God has for me in the big picture of life.

PASSION, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction, OR a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept. Are you passionate about something? Just think of the INFLUENCE someone can have because of their own personal passion for something.

So WHAT are you passionate about? What is it that brings you JOY and fulfillment?

I think Jon Bon Jovi says it the best: “Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, BE PASSIONATE.”