The “holiday season” is past.  The stores have replaced most of the Christmas items with Valentine’s items.  Radio stations are, once again, playing the music genre they did before the Christmas carols began.  Children have returned to school.  Parents have returned to work.  Grandparents are mostly back home from traveling to visit family. There are no extra church services this month, and we are back in “ordinary” time.  Routines are back to normal.  But is “normal” the same for us as it was before, or did we allow ourselves to be changed by Christ coming into our lives?  Did you let Christ be born again in your heart?  If so, what does that mean?  Is there a new normal?  

Certainly, there was a new normal for Mary and Joseph all those years ago after Jesus’ birth.  There was a new normal for the disciples after letting Jesus into their lives.  What difference has Jesus’ coming into your life made?  What difference does it make that God is with you now and always?  What difference does it make that God loves you enough to become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ– to live and die and rise again– for YOU?  Has it changed your routine?  Has it changed you?  

Remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Posted by our friend Annie in January 2017