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Sunshine for a New Year

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Milk Eggs and Worry in the New Year by Peter Caligiuri

That is why I say to you, don’t worry about living—wondering what you are going to eat or drink, or what you are going to wear. Surely life is more important than food, and the body more important than the clothes you wear. Look at the birds in the sky. They never sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Matthew 6:25- 26 Phillips

I must confess that we New Englanders brag a lot about how tough we are when it comes to winter. We laugh uproariously at stories of school districts in the South shutting down because of a couple of inches of snow. But no matter how many New England snowstorms we have lived through, often our conversation at home when it starts falling, begins with the words, “Honey, can you run to the store to pick up milk and eggs?” Somehow, despite knowing that hens will keep on laying and cows will continue to give milk, we go into panic mode. No matter how tough we seem to others, Jesus knows us all the way to the core of our fearful hearts. He sees that no matter how many times He has provided daily bread and protected us through long cold nights that at the first sign of a storm we act as if God won’t take care of us this time. But if as Jesus tells us we watch the birds, we’ll see that none of them stay up late at night looking for bird seed, bugs, or worms. They simply fold their wings, tuck their heads then and drift off to sleep. It seems lately as if we are facing a record number of storms including presidential politics, hurricanes and a pandemic that just doesn’t want to quit. But what will count in the year ahead is not what problems we are face, but who we face them with. Our same God who is an expert on feeding the birds loves us more and knows exactly how to care for His children.

Spread Your Wings and Fly 

And now the year has passed my child 
See the new one lies ahead 
Yes all those days both sad and sweet 
Have slipped into their beds To sleep 
until the hour God sets 
For eyes to open wide 
And see 
His sunlight streaming in 
To spread our wings and fly!

Spread your Wings and Fly by Peter Caligiuri 
© 2021 All rights reserved

A Blessed New Year by Robert Keller

Let’s be honest, some of us will be snoring when the ball drops in Times Square this New Year’s Eve. After all, despite all the hoopla, nothing really changes, and January first is just another day. I had huge expectations when I was a young boy. I remember getting dressed up for the big New Year’s celebration at my aunt’s house. As I got ready, I was nervously anticipating what would happen at the stroke of twelve. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I felt that it would be life changing. When the moment arrived, there were shouts of “Happy New Year” with hugs and kisses all around. Aside from all the fresh-baked treats, the noisemakers were my favorite part. It was my once-a-year opportunity to make a terrible racket without getting into trouble. When the confetti settled, it was quite a letdown when I realized that nothing significant had actually happened. Suddenly it all felt so hollow and after that year, I never got very excited about New Year’s Eve. Then fifteen years later, as a new believer, I experienced a very different way to welcome the New Year. I probably ate a bit too much at my church’s potluck dinner that night, but I can’t say that I regret it. As we cleared the tables, midnight was quickly approaching. We each found a place in the sanctuary to kneel and pray. We hardly noticed as midnight came and went without fanfare, but in God’s presence, I was not left feeling hollow. That year, I knew in my heart that something significant had happened and that when we prayed, God listened, and was ready to work in marvelous ways. So my prayer for you is that you give your New Year to God, and then watch Him get involved and give you a Blessed New Year!

The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]. James 5:16 AMP

A Little Sunshine News

The beginning of a New Year is the best time to look back and be thankful for the year we have passed through. Sunshine News has grown over this past year by the addition of Pastor Janice Burnett and Rob Keller as regular contributors. Our little publication which began as a single page devotional given out to a single facility has grown to be available in 8-9 Senior Communities in Florida and Western New York. If you would like to write for Sunshine Newsletter, we would love to hear from you in 2022! We are looking for devotionals, news, humor, poetry or inspirational quotes. Most of all please pray for our team’s outreach to facilities that have been sometimes locked down, often stressed out and daily struggling through two years of Covid-19. We begin believing that God is so amazingly good that He sent Jesus for everyone who is willing to receive Him as Lord and Savior. He remembers those who are forgotten and specializes in restoring the weakest of hearts. Thank you and God bless you in the New Year ahead!

God specializes in giving people a fresh start! Rick Warren

Two Turtle Doves

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:24 ESV

This morning I was thinking of how, Mary and Joseph had heard from angels and watched shepherds and wise men kneel before Jesus, but when they came to the temple to dedicate God’s miracle child, they offered only the sacrifice of the poorest of the poor. Though they were not ashamed to come to Herod’s golden temple with their babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, sometimes I wonder why God chose two doves for their offering.

Think how different it might have been if God had picked a princess or the wife of a wealthy merchant in place of Mary. But God chose a young peasant girl from Nazareth to be the mother of His Son. He specifically selected a poor village for Him to grow up in and a simple carpenter to provide Him a home. No place on earth was too humble for the Lord of the universe to visit and no offering too small for Him to treasure. And maybe it is like when I tell my grandchildren, “One cookie isn’t enough! You need another so there will be one for each hand!” Maybe God chose two doves so that they would have something in each hand to give Him. So, if you wonder what you have to give God this Christmas, think of Mary’s turtledoves and then come with whatever He puts in your hands.

Thursday Sunshine – Fourth Advent Week – Love

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Worship at His Feet

And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.  Matthew 2:11 ESV

At a recent meeting at our church the pastor’s wife reminded us of the wise men when she said, “The more we seek Him: the more He finds us.” We usually think of the wise men as going out on a quest to find God’s Son. But more likely they were emissaries chosen to carry gifts and give worship, to a neighboring king’s child so as to curry political favor. But the star they followed led them further than they imagined. Maybe when they left Persia, they simply planned on visiting a neighboring kingdom. But instead of a few days on the road, they discovered that the star directed them over a thousand miles across the desert to Israel. When they arrived at the capital city, Jerusalem they were invited into the king’s palace. The wise men probably unloaded the camels shouting, “Finally we’re here!” But that’s when things got strange. That evening at supper they learned that the one who they had been seeking was not the king’s son, but instead a special chosen one of God, whom the Jews called the Messiah. The next afternoon as they started towards Bethlehem, the star they had followed appeared again yet this time led them not to a palace, but to an ordinary house. There in the light of God’s star they found a child who was the true King sent from Heaven. In Him they found the one who had been seeking them and there they opened their treasures and worshiped at His feet!

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees, takes off his shoes.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Love Is

Love is patient to slow its pace
And walk with us our street
Love is kind when it takes time
To wash our dirty feet

Love protects from angry waves
And trusts when we can’t see
And hopes in hours before sunrise
When shadows finally flee

After everything in us has fallen
Love still stays standing true
Believing the impossible
That we will make it through


Love Is by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 all rights reserved

Do not waste time bothering whether, you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you do and you will presently come to love him" C S Lewis