But, no matter where you go, there’s something deeply rich in coming back home. Back to your roots. Back to your past. Whether the purpose is to find healing, hope, vision, restoration, or just revisit sweet memories — there is always something waiting for you in the homecoming.

Today whether it’s painful or it’s exciting, may you embrace the season of growth you are in. Having hope for what new parts of you will be refined or produced. Finding peace in the fact that you were made to grow.

I realized I get a choice in what voices I entertain. I don’t care how sneaky delicious Fear’s charcuterie board may appear — they're still not welcome. Nope — I’ve made up my mind. I’m making myself very clear.

If you find yourself in that place today, I want you to know there are advocates for you too. People who will go to bat, people who will look after you. There are people who want to help, who will stand firm next to you. You are not alone — that is the truth.

I knew instantly in my heart, this was an answer to my cry. A simple truth — start with what’s in front of you. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, weighed down by the problems and pains of the world. Hopeless about your part. But it’s always simpler than what we think.

Hope can be seen in the small but mighty mustard seed we carry that keeps fighting to believe that, in spite of today, goodness will always have the final say.

As I finished the sentence, I burst out into tears. This children’s lesson that I was about to teach, had totally rocked me. Because it wasn’t just for them, it was for me.

“You’re late!” my 80-year-old friend Gladimer said in his thick Russian accent. “I know, I know.” I sighed, “But at least I showed up.”

Today, I’m feeling grateful. The real type of gratitude. May you give yourself space, to get to the same place. To truly realize, the gift that is your life.

You’d be surprised how different things could be if for once, you just bet on your hopes + dreams.