This week we look forward to the start of a new year, untouched, like a slate that is unmarked and clean, just waiting for us to paint our thoughts and impressions onto it. Many of us will start to compile a list of New Year resolutions…setting goals for 2011. For a lot of us, by the end of January many of those goals start to unravel, and we become discouraged, wondering why we should continue on the course that looked so bright at the beginning.

I think if we approach the New Year with a different perspective and keep a symbol or image in our minds it may be easier to stay focused and navigate the road ahead. I approach the New Year as a builder, a person who sees a piece of land, and the possibilities that can come forth. I look at the formulation of my goals, hopes, and dreams as a house…a beautiful shining building that by the end of the year I can be proud of. A builder needs tools, not just hammers and nails but Faith, encouragement, conviction and the belief that when you put your mind to it, anything is possible.

In January we start the foundation…we make sure it is strong and has the potential to hold what we place upon it. We make sure there are no cracks. Each proceeding month we add to our house…floor by floor we put in the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the heating system, etc. Sometimes we make mistakes, one room may not be wired right, so we go back, repair the damage and continue on. By the Spring, we see that our house is off the ground and rising. The contributions we have made to our house are beginning to show. People pass by and are amazed how fast the house is starting to come together…but little do they see the problems that we encountered to get to our level. So on we go, each day building brick by brick with the sky above us…and with each brick a feeling of accomplishment comes over us and a better understanding of the mistakes we have made so that we try not to make them again. God looks down and sees a person trying to push forward with a house of meaning and purpose. A badly built house with a weak foundation won’t stand very long…but a good house can last forever. God understands how hard it is to built good houses.

By the Fall, our floors are completed, and we are about to add our roof. We want a roof that will not leak, that can take the elements. If we have done all our work and done it well, by the end of the year we will be standing in front of a house amazed that we were able to accomplish this once monumental task. We look at each brick and floor and see a story. We see the set-backs and the over comings. It is possible to build a good house, God willing, with the right tools, and determination…All things are possible.

Good Luck with your house,

love, Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

Food…most of us have trouble living with it, and NONE of us can live without it. How many things in life have that much power? Very few things indeed.

For many, the memories of “Mom’s” cooking stays with us for a lifetime…we call that “comfort food.” Even if Mom made you spinach noodles on burnt rye toast when you had a cold, you would still consider that your “comfort” food. Food is attached to time and place and, especially, emotions. Give me a bowl of tomato soup and I will tell you about childhood and the flu, and how much that warm bowl of soup meant to me. For some, it’s chicken soup…or lentil soup. Soups are, for most of us, put in the “comfort” category. You don’t even need a utensil to enjoy it!!

Food…too much of the wrong kind can kill us, and not enough of the good kind can malnourish, or starve us. What other thing in our life has that much influence over our well-being? Not much, for sure. When I hear food prices might skyrocket someday, I mull over buying large bags of rice, and dried beans, and little pots to grow parsley (got to have those greens!) and then wonder what I can add, to prevent scurvy…you know, the disease they got on the Mayflower from not having enough citrus! Maybe I can buy canned mandarin oranges? I like those. Or just buy a bunch of fruity jams. If it were down to survival, I would have to consider only those food stuffs that are non-perishable….hmmmm….how many things in our lives have to be used within a certain period of time before they become dangerous to use or consume? Not many….

Food….a true love/hate relationship. It can be one of the most enjoyable pleasures in life, and can be downright devastating, like when one gets food-poisoning. I got so ill once in an exotic foreign country from either bad food or water I thought I was going to die….luckily, I lived to tell the tale:) During the experience I told myself I would never drink or eat again (ha!) These are the crazy things we tell ourselves to feel we have some control over the enormous power Food and Water has over us.

Food…part of the gift God has given us…earth to grow wheat and vegetables, trees to bear fruit and nuts, paddies to harvest rice, oceans to fish, etc. It is not meant to be taken for granted, nor abused, and yet we do both. When we don’t have enough of it we die, when we have too much of it, we die. Somewhere we are meant to find the balance. And for those who are without it, may you soon have enough food to be able to complain about it.

love,

Jennifer Avalon