Christmas Letter 2021

Dear Friends,

I am down to the wire again with this letter.  I had a friend ask where my letter was, that she knew I’d have a message that she needed to hear…no pressure.  Let’s just start this and see where it goes.

This year has been a busy and hectic one, it seems.  I started the year with announcing that Rise Above It Bakery & Café was closing and I was selling the building.  COVID had taken its toll and it was time to switch gears.  The building sold the day it was announced.  Fortunate that the new owners use it for a bakery for our downtown, yet I miss the gathering space that it once was.

With that sale, I met TJ and Jackie Cowan, owners of Cold Blooded Coffee & Roastery.  Their friends purchased my bakery building and then we visited the 131 building that I was renovating. To my surprise…the next day, TJ told me that they wanted that building for their coffee business – long before it was even close to being ready.  That has been a blessing that I didn’t expect and when I’m not working at my full-time job, I’m working non-stop nights and weekends to get this space open this spring.  I believe they will do great things in this renovated historic building and for Downtown Carterville.

I think about how much time that I continue to dedicate to preserving historic buildings in our downtown.  It can seem all-consuming and a distraction to what should be my life, sometimes.  I do have a passion for it, and while I almost always consider what my next project will be, I do wonder sometimes if I’m doing the right thing and how on Earth am I going to reach the end goal with some of the preservation hurdles that are constantly presented.  Renovating historic buildings is not cheap, they are not financially fruitful necessarily and nothing is ever easy with them.  But they are buildings that have stood the test of time for more than 100 years and have overcome much more than I can imagine, and something in my soul says that is important to preserve them for others.

Then…I visited Mayfield.

I saw the historic downtown buildings that were built by craftsman with limited tools, filled with character and made with quality materials that only come from the structures of that era…transformed to mountains of rubble.  All of that work and history…gone when a massive tornado journeys through multiple states on a December night.  Houses turned upside down, when moments before the storm, families enjoyed the normal activities of the season, with their sites set on Christmas ahead.

It makes you wonder what the point in all of it is…if you give your life’s work for something that can be destroyed in a few minutes’ time.  If you live a healthy life only to discover you have cancer.  If you get married only to find yourself getting divorced after years of making it work.  If you raise a child and then he or she tragically dies.  So many examples of building things, only to find that they can be taken away.

Perhaps, one could have said this about the Christmas story also.  What is the point of God sending his son, Jesus - with the adventure of being born in a stable, surviving the madness of King Herod and later teaching in the synagogues, if Jesus would die too young?  Why spend days of walking to different cities to preach the gospel and perform miracles, if one day – this savior who we celebrate at Christmas – will be crucified and not save himself?

The difference is - Jesus came for one reason – to give us hope and to fulfill God’s purpose of becoming a sacrifice for our sins so we can have eternal life.

He came to die young after accomplishing the mission of preaching the gospel and preparing disciples.   He came to serve God’s will which was to die on the cross and be raised again.  He came to give us hope and abundant future, and to be with us – daily and especially when we need him the most.

I think of my sweet friend Katie and her family.  Lucky to be alive, yet as they huddled in the basement - they hear their historic home being blown away. Nearly all of their belongings are gone; their cars, crushed; their beautiful lot, mangled.  Yet – they were unharmed and Katie expressed gratitude to God for this and the plan that she knows God has for their lives.  It’s a remarkable example of faith, when life literally takes most of your material possessions from you, and you give glory to God.

My faith is often not that strong.  But I am always reminded at Christmas of the purpose that we have all been given, and the glorious gift of hope that Jesus’s birth gives to all who seek him.  I pray that all who read this letter are reminded – there is always hope.  Whether you are battling cancer, discovering your new chapter after divorce or job changes, or if a storm literally rocked your world – God will see you through this and lead you to a place of peace, fulfillment and abundance, giving you strength that can only come from him.  I am certain that I will need a reminder of this in the future, but I can bear witness of this experience with Mom battling cancer and now cancer free.  

God is good; and so are my wonderful friends.  I pray you and your families have a merry Christmas and that our paths cross in 2022.

Love to you all,

Jennifer