How are you going to embrace your new start?

It’s a new year, a new beginning.  How are you going to embrace your new start?  We recently celebrated the birth of a baby boy, our Savior.  How did he embrace his new start?  Jesus loved us so much that he gave his own earthly life for ours.  How have we embraced the new start he afforded us with being born again?  Some make resolutions, some create a theme, some reflect on the past, and some dream of the future.  But what are we DOING?  It is important to follow up resolutions, themes, reflection, and dreaming with action.

After some recent happenings both locally and globally, I am reminded of how hate and violence are perpetuated in the world today.  It is my belief that most of these negative feelings and actions are directed against individuals and groups that the perpetrators don’t even know.  These feelings can be passed down from generation to generation.  Much hate in the world could be resolved if we took the time to get to know people.  My hope for the world is that we can see that every single person belongs to the same group.  We are the children of God!

My husband and I raised our children to love and respect all individuals no matter what.  We were not put on this earth to judge or be judged.  We joked in our house as the boys were raised that our family motto could be ELE (everybody love everybody).  This was to enforce efforts to be kind, courteous, and empathetic to everyone we meet. I will continue to strive for this in this new year. 

My hope and goal for this district continues to be one of reconciliation and forging ahead in this world by growing our relationships through our love of Jesus Christ!  What is great about this world is that LOVE, not just hate, can be passed from generation to generation.  

Let’s do more in 2024!  

Kristen Roop

2024 District Board Vice-Chair