DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Hope for the New Year!
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© Naimalett.com | In the Hills atop Greystone Mansion, overlooking the LaLa

Happy New Year, Fam!

2013 is here! And the start of each year is always the most Hopeful time of year!
NEW beginnings. NEW goals. NEW drive.

But first, how was your holiday?

Kevin and I chilled in the Hills with fam. T’was fantastic to finally take time off. Lots of folks from the LaLa head to Hawaii. So traffic here was light; lines not so long. YAY!

Then, we brought in the New Year with great friends over dinner. Fascinating ladies & gents: Up-and-coming Director-Filmmaker, Cable TV Writer-Producer (gotta love those hyphens), Singer-Songwriter (what’s your hyphen?), Accountant-Coach, a young Philanthropreneur-(philanthropist-entrepreneur)-to-be, and Kevin & me (not going to list all our hyphens! LOL :=)

Hollywood Films, Faith & Food

We kicked off our lively discussion about the latest Hollywood films and faith over an avant-garde din of salmon, wild rice, fresh spinach and candied carrots.

OK, I probably just lost many of my southern readers who are wondering what respectable Georgia Peach would move cross country and not make fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas and yams for New Year’s dinner. More than one caller asked me about those black-eyed peas! I know my roots, but about 10 years ago, during my hubby’s cancer fight, I switched to a pescatarian diet (vegetarian + seafood). Do black-eyed peas go with salmon? Not so much. Our meal was delish. I chipped in, but Kevin rocked it. He’s straight gourmet.

We talked Lincoln, The Hobbit, SkyFall, Les Misérables, Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty, The Master, Argo, This is 40, Silver Linings Playbook, Celeste & Jesse Forever, Rust and Bone, The Intouchables, Beasts of the Southern Wild… gosh, I know I’m leaving a few out.

Something truly electric happens when fam gathers over good food and organic discussion, whether re: film or otherwise. We share, debate, laugh, relate. In those moments, I see hope.

There’s Hope!

Hope is the feeling, the belief, that things will turn out for the best.

In those safe places where relationships are real, walls are non-existent, and folks can be who they are, hope rises. I looked around our table and saw the minds behind coming films and television shows that will inspire, music that will transform, ministries that will lift, and giving that will fund dreams beyond what we can imagine. I saw hope.

As I pray atop Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills often (pictured above) overlooking the LaLa, I have hope for our city. I have hope for our world. I believe, through Christ, things turn out for the best.

Got hope?!

What’s your hope for the New Year?
Do you believe things will get better?
The good news is that if we hit rock bottom in 2012, great! The only way now is up.

We all have needs, don’t we? But as we share life together, we realize that we’re not alone. We have nothing to hide. We have brothers & sisters who fight for us on their knees and lift us through their love. We have a heavenly Father who gave His Son to save us. Things will turn out for the best!

Romans 5:1-8 says that we have peace through Christ and we hope in God’s glory as well as our hard times: “…but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope….”

Whatever circumstances we endure produce perseverance, character and hope. And hope says get up! Things will get better.

What a great way to start the New Year, Fam!
Got Hope?!
Naima

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