First, Happy New Year! Here’s a perspective to consider as we live into 2026.

Pastor Andy Stanley tells the following story:

Sometimes I just want it to stop. Talk of COVID, looting, brutality. I lose my way. I become convinced that this “new normal” is real life.

Then I meet an 87-year-old who talks about living through Polio, Diphtheria, Vietnam protests and yet is still enchanted with life. 

He seemed surprised when I said 2020 must be especially challenging for him.

“No,” he said slowly, looking me straight in the eyes. “I learned a long time ago not to see the world through printed headlines. I see the world through the people that surround me. I see the world with the realization that we love big. Therefore, I just choose to write my own headlines:

• Husband loves wife today
• Family drops everything to come to grandma’s bedside
• He patted my hand…”Old man makes a new friend.”

His words collide with my worries, freeing them from the tether I had been holding tight. They float away. I am left with a renewed spirit and a new way to write my own headlines.