Highly Recommended

Happy New Year everyone!! God has blessed us to see 2025 😊!! I'm so grateful for a new year!! For those of you who may not know, I love to read 💖. I can be content wrapped up in a blanket with a book in a cozy corner. In the last few years especially, I have worked on reading a mix of fiction and nonfiction books. Now, I love my fiction, but it is good to be exposed to nonfiction reads as well 😊. As a teacher, I love to share with my students what I'm reading. In fact, I have a sign outside my classroom door that says what I'm currently reading. We have at least 15-20 minutes of independent daily reading in my class where we all read. I love it as it's one of my favorite parts of class! Sometimes, students will ask me what my book is about and how it is so far. One day, I had to move the sign temporarily and was going to put it on the shelf when one of my students said she liked to see what I was reading. That made my whole heart smile 💖!! You see, this year, students have been giving me book recommendations and I have taken them up on some. They are books that they have found to be good. So, I check out the books from our middle school library. If it's a library book I've checked out, I have had students check out the book because I talked about it. Many of their recommendations have been genres I normally don't read as much, such as historical fiction or science fiction. It's good to get out your comfort zone. It can be scary too! I liked the reads! They have also given me genre recommendations that I hadn't read for a while, but I have enjoyed like mysteries 😊. I'm thankful for all my students' recommendations and still have some I haven't read yet. It's a new year, so here comes more new reads! So, I got to thinking, if students can give me book recommendations of what they enjoy, I can share recommendations of what can help us in 2025. Below, I will list those recommendations:

1. Take care of you. (I Corinthians 6:19-20). Take care of your heart, soul, mind, and body. We have to care for our whole self. We have to make sure we're getting rest and feeling good from the inside out. We only get one body. Let's make sure we take care of it well 💖. 

2. Listen to God. (Psalm 32:8). He will let you know when you need to be still or you need to be on the move. Both are important and needed. God will show you what you need to do at every moment and not guide you wrong. I'm grateful for that!

3. Be consistent (I Corinthians 15:58). Being consistent means you're steady. Whatever goal or good habit you're working on, keep at it. It's okay to take breaks, but keep going because with every step forward, you get closer to reaching the goal. When you're doing something constantly, it shows. Let's be steady in reaching out to others, loving ourselves, others, and God, and serving  where needed😊.

4. Connect to community (Hebrews 10:25). Connection to the right people and sources is so important! I'm so grateful that I have found a supportive and encouraging community who stands with me through everything. Earlier today, I had the amazing opportunity to attend a women's brunch gathering at church. Whew!! I'm sitting here hours later and still excited!! When I tell you we had the best time ever, we did 💖!! The love, empowerment, transparency, and encouragement was EVERYTHING!! When you can laugh and cry with your people, that's beautiful! When you have people that allow you to acknowledge how you feel and what's happened in the past, but also remind you there's greater for your life - those are your people! That community may be found in your job, church, family, friends, interest groups, or a combination of them all. Whatever you do, make sure you connect to who and what will help you grow. Growing together is beautiful and let's be here for it all 😊!!

5. De-clutter (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This is something I'm constantly working on! I'm working on this in my physical spaces and in my heart. I've shared before how I'm cleaning spaces in the house. This is still happening! I'm proud of the progress so far and know more progress is to come. Just yesterday, I was cleaning out Momma's closet. Now, Momma had a lot of stuff in there, but I've also done a lot of cleaning. I see corners I hadn't seen in a long time!! I have found clothes and items I didn't even know Momma had! Yesterday, I found some really nice sweaters that I will definitely be wearing soon 😊. I said to myself, "Momma was holding out on us!" You got to love her 💜!! Also, when cleaning, I have bags and have to determine what items to get rid of, keep, or donate. Let's look at who and what we're holding on to. We have to let go of anything that will weigh us down. We have to get the clutter out of our heart, so we too can see every corner and discover treasures and gifts we never knew or forgot about. Let's clean physically, but also also be mindful of our spaces in community and social media. 

6. Live! (3 John 1:2). At the women's gathering I went to today, that's the word I kept hearing a lot of and that kept standing out to me 💖.  There are times that I just existed and went through the motions of something, and didn't really take time to embrace the moment like I should have. I have learned to live more and seen myself grow in ways I didn't think I would, but it was such a great reminder to keep living. There are so many wonderful opportunities to enjoy life and the people God has placed in our lives. Let's live in the moments we're given. Let's embrace all that life has to offer. So what do you say? Are you ready to live and embrace life even the more? It's highly recommended 😊. Then, let's go! Here we come, 2025!!  Love and blessings to all 💖!!