“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” John 1:5
Jesus said;
“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark 16:15 NKJV
The Light
Be Blessed and Be a Blessing in 2026
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears,
and rescues them from all their troubles.
(Psalm 34:17 (NRSV)
Christ invites us to be Christ’s hands and feet, are we not also Christ’s eyes?
When they ask us to come and see, many respond. And then we go and do. Come and see. Go and do likewise.
- St. Teresa of Avila: Her famous prayer begins, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours,” emphasizing our role.
- Biblical Call: Based on verses like Matthew 25:34-40 (serving the least of these) and 1 Corinthians 12 (the body of Christ).
I would like to say thank you to all that shared a prayer, a cookie, a flower, peanuts, pair of gloves, a kind word, a card among many other acts of kindness throughout 2025 with me and my family. Please know you are recorded in my book of gratitude. My prayers of Blessings for each of you.
Be greatly Blessed in 2026!
Paul Prayed;
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that makes God known to you. I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength.
—Ephesians 1:18-19 (CEB)
As we are in the last three days of 2025 I pray with Paul. And, add his greeting for you,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 1:2 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/eph.1.2.NKJV
I give thanks for the glorious privilege of sharing God’s word and sharing prayers for one another throughout 2025! And, we have seen His greatness working among us.
As we are at the gate of 2026, “I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers.” May this Light be our guiding light for all we do and hope to do in 2026!
Happy New Year!
Cause your Face to Shine
“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth! Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us! Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! O Lord God of hosts, How long will You be angry Against the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, And given them tears to drink in great measure. You have made us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared room for it, And caused it to take deep root, And it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, And the mighty cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs to the Sea, And her branches to the River. Why have You broken down her hedges, So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar out of the woods uproots it, And the wild beast of the field devours it. Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, And the branch that You made strong for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!”
Psalms 80:1-19 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.80.1-19.NKJV
“Be happy and shout to God who makes us strong! Shout praises to the God of Jacob. Sing as you play tambourines and the lovely sounding stringed instruments. Sound the trumpets and start the New Moon Festival. We must also celebrate when the moon is full. This is the law in Israel, and it was given to us by the God of Jacob. The descendants of Joseph were told to obey it, when God led them out from the land of Egypt. In a language unknown to me, I heard someone say: “I lifted the burden from your shoulder and took the heavy basket from your hands. When you were in trouble, I rescued you, and from the thunderclouds, I answered your prayers. Later I tested you at Meribah Spring. “Listen, my people, while I, the Lord, correct you! Israel, if you would only pay attention to me! Don’t worship foreign gods or bow down to gods you know nothing about. I am the LORD your God. I rescued you from Egypt. Just ask, and I will give you whatever you need. “But, my people, Israel, you refused to listen, and you would have nothing to do with me! So I let you be stubborn and keep on following your own advice. “My people, Israel, if only you would listen and do as I say! I, the LORD, would quickly defeat your enemies with my mighty power. Everyone who hates me would come crawling, and that would be the end of them. But I would feed you with the finest bread and with the best honey until you were full.””
Psalms 81:1-16 CEVUK
https://bible.com/bible/294/psa.81.1-16.CEVUK
The Light came into the world; 🎄🛐🕯️
🎶Run, Run, Run
Aim for your goal
And, into the many Nations
You will go;
Be prepared to overcome
And, take control
By the Light of the Son! 🎵🕯️🛐🎄
I wrote this little song years ago when I needed encouragement for myself and others. We would sing it in church, home, car and plane! Maybe even a train! I continue to sing day by day!🕯️
Find the Light and Follow it ✨
This was my today’s devotion;
“We all carry a light within us, a light God has placed in us when we were made in God’s image. This light illuminates and warms our path like a fire through our days. It is our task to keep this light shining.”
Cláudio Carvalhaes, Light from Afar: An Advent Devotional from Around the World
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
(James 1:17 NKJV)
Search, seek, look for the light and you will find THE LIGHT! (from Matthew 7:7) and then be WISE and follow it!
Merry Christmas
Unto us a Child is born;
“The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.”(Isaiah 9:2 (NRSVUE)
“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
(Isaiah 9:6 NKJV)
Imagine, yes, try and just imagine hearing these words spoken for the first time? Or, maybe this is your first time as you read this! Or, maybe you walked through a store and saw it printed on a greeting card? A banner hanging in a neighbor’s yard? You turned on the radio and heard? Just imagine! What would you think? The best, what are you thinking?
Sure rings loud and clear. Hope! How do we find this Son? Is he in the earth today? What can you tell us about him?
If we find him will we find light shining on all this darkness we, the people, are daily seeing?
Is this a new movie just released in the theatre? A new broadway show? Could this be for one nation? All nations? Will it help nations at war? Children starving? Help? Hope?
I read this Headline early this morning, 12/7/25;
“Young adults are waiting in line to worship at this fast-growing Atlanta church”
Where is this child? Let us find Him?
Green Figs no leaves
- As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, and feeling hungry, he saw a fig tree with many leaves and went to it, expecting to find fruit.
- He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
- Jesus cursed the tree, saying, “May you never bear fruit again!” and it immediately withered. (Found in Mark 11)
I have been thinking about my fig tree having these very small green figs with no leaves as the cold and wind together destroyed the leaves leaving a spiritual mystery in my mind. My tree has been bearing edible fruit for years but this year in season no figs at all. Lots of beautiful leaves. As season was winding down there appeared an abundance of tiny green figs.
Now I goggled and researched and understood why I most likely didn’t have edible figs this year.
I began to think about Jesus wanting figs and saw a tree with beautiful leaves and no figs. In support of the fig tree the story said it was not the season there for figs. Yet, Jesus got a little testy it seems and curse the tree!
I read different opinions as why Jesus did this? One commentary wrote;
“The story is a lesson that true faith is not just about appearances but about bearing “fruit,” or doing good works and living a righteous life.”
I get it! Now, what about my tree and its spiritual meaning? My tree did look elegant and regal with big beautiful leaves. Then appeared tiny green figs late in the season and we had warning frost was near. The wind seemed a bit vicious about the same time. I pondered, I’m always competing with the birds and squirrels when the joy of a ripen figs appears. No competitive sport was happened now.
In our last blog we covered a little about a parable and a simile meaning. what would Jesus see in our fig tree?
Then Sings my Soul;
“As a deer gets thirsty for streams of water, I truly am thirsty for you, my God.”
Psalms 42:1 CEVUK
As we have shared often flowers and greenery come in many forms and from various places and occasions. Recently we received flowers from Jen and The Barn at Willow Brook, of Leesburg, from a ‘celebration of life.’ They were lovely and, Mr J Hamilton Lambert’s life story connected to the school, ACL, of which at times receive our flower gifts. We repurpose them for more beauty, class lessons including arts and crafts of which we at times share here. We love how connections are made to benefit our youth of today as well as each of us as we share and learn together.
Our focus verse from Psalms 42 is a metaphor for a deep and intense spiritual longing for God. A deer thirsty and longing for water.
Our story telling table arrangement here is a metaphor hopefully serving as a tool to represent complex issues, emotions, or experiences beyond what is literally seen but our souls may be feeling.
Some of our Artists are using visual metaphors from flora designs and other forms of flower art and words to communicate love, loss, or identity, creating layers of meaning for us to interpret.
Our Hope is Love, Joy and Peace will be the reality that springs forth from deep within each of us as we share one with another.
Jeremiah 17:7
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
Psalm 33:18
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
Psalm 29:11
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!“Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.”Colossians 3:14 CEVUK
Let us Love one another!
Update on Repurposing flowers from Wedding in Wilmington NC
The FFA is pounding flowers during their meeting activity right now; flowers from Wilmington, NC
They are making bookmarks. Then will dye yarn from the flowers for the strings that will go through the holes!
Don’t you just love the sound we are hearing of these students in our County Schools from the FFA!
“”This is so exhilarating to me being from NC and living on a farm in my youth! I just had to remind us of their Creed!
The FFA Creed
“I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds – achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years.
I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.
I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others. I believe in my own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as I can secure, and in the ability of progressive agriculturists to serve our own and the public interest in producing and marketing the product of our toil.
I believe in less dependence on begging and more power in bargaining; in the life abundant and enough honest wealth to help make it so–for others as well as myself; in less need for charity and more of it when needed; in being happy myself and playing square with those whose happiness depends upon me.
I believe that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.
The creed was written by E.M. Tiffany and adopted at the Third National FFA Convention. It was revised at the 38th and 63rd Conventions.”
Plato “Let me write the songs of a nation; I care not who writes its laws.”
The pounding of these marvelous flowers from my home state to the tables of Loudoun where my sons grew up is the sound of our yesterdays, today and tomorrow. I include my granddaughter and yours children and grands to as the care for our land.
Jeremiah 29:11 states that God has plans “to give you a future and a hope”.
Thank you FFA!
Repurposed flowers gifted to ACL
(Read more about them from our Wedding blogs)
Academies of Loudoun-DEBORAH CHAVES-Teacher, Agricultural Education-5712521980 shares;
The flowers have lasted beautifully in refrigeration and today my Plant Science students were thrilled to be able to learn and use them in many different ways. Some students learned how to ‘flower pound’ by arranging the flowers, petals, leaves in artistic patterns on unbleached muslin sandwiched between parchment paper. As they happily pounded away with mallet and hammers, the beautiful colors permeated the cloth making an everlasting piece of ‘art’. Some were then glued on cards, or on the re-purposed vases; placed in baskets decorated with the dried flowers; or left for the next project purpose. Other students made dyes from the flowers by placing flowers and water in glass lab beakers and then bringing to a boil on laboratory hot plates. The cloth was pre-soaked in a vinegar/water solution, rinsed and then placed in beakers filled with the simmering dye until the cloth absorbed the colors. They further experimented by adding salt and/or vinegar to the dyes to increase the color absorption and even tried doing some watercolor painting with them!
None of the plant material was wasted as whatever could not be used in the crafting such as stems, etc. was put in buckets to be composted for their outdoor classroom garden. What an enjoyable learning day they had! They are looking forward to continuing to learn from and utilize the ‘re-purposed’ flowers.
Our thanks again to all that donated the flowers and contributed so our class @ACL could learn and share how to repurpose these beautiful flowers.
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose…” Ecclesiastes 3:1
“Love never fails” 1Corinthians 13:8.
thedailylily.com 