The "Y"s Have It

This has been percolating in my head for a while now. These words....

HumilitY

EmpathY

MercY

GenerositY

I noticed they all ended in Y...hence..The Ys Have It! (Instead of the "Ayes" have it when passing a vote)😉

But then I realized that the order of the words was also significant, to me at least.

First and foremost, we must have

humilitY

Christ was our supreme example of this

📖 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:3-11

We are called to have humility with each other

📖 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Once we are clothed in humility...we are humble enough to see others as Christ wants us to see them, as He sees them. We can look on others with 

empathY

📖 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10

We don't see ourselves as better...but through empathetic eyes and heart.

📖No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. 1 Corinthians 10:24

 try and see things from another's perspective, 

📖Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble 1 Peter 3:8

put yourself in their circumstances

📖Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited. Romans 12:15

Once we have the empathy to see others without judgment we then can show 

mercY

📖“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Matthew 7:1

mercy in our responses and actions.

 📖 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Romans 12:14

Not just mercy for those that are easy to show mercy to

📖 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Luke 6:35

With mercy we don't interact with others assuming we know what is better for them, 

we extend to them nothing other than God's love and mercy

📖Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36

And then the natural outpouring of mercy is 

generositY

📖 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  Romans 12:13

📖 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18

not just giving material things,  but generosity of heart and spirit.

📖 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

If we are generous with our love and kindness we go above, beyond and out of our way to show others the love Jesus has given us.

So are we all in agreement?!

The "Y"s have it!

Jesus did it first and did it best

Humility..go back to Philippians 2

📖 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! 

Empathy

📖 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15

Mercy

📖But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

He took my place so I don't have to receive the punishment that I should for my sins 

Generosity 

📖 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. . John 3:16

  

all these are depicted in His story of the Sheep and the Goats

📖For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:35-40 (I encourge you to read the whole story of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25🔗)

🙏 Dear Lord I pray we are the sheep

Humble enough to SEE the needs, empathetic enough to UNDERSTAND the importance, merciful enough to be WILLING to act, generous enough to GIVE specifically.

Thank you Jesus for Your words, Your examples of the "Y"s. Not only to show us, but to save us! Please work in us to want to follow You in all these.

Thank you for Your Humility, Your Empathy, Your Mercy and Your Generosity to each of us. ❤️

And since this is the first blog of the next 10 years...

(I updated the photo from last weeks 10 year old blog)

Full Circle

 So we have come to November 2026.

10 years ago, November 8, 2016, I posted my very first CoffeeTime post. Not sure where it was going to go. So this first week of November I am going to repost that very first one. 

Next week, closer to the actual anniversary, I will start posting new thoughts and ideas as God gives them to me each week. 

November 8. 2016

I have had this laid on my heart for a little bit now, not sure where or how this will go, but the first step is obedience, in faith.
With that, my first step will be to introduce myself a bit and introduce you to my dear Friend, and how this Coffee Time came to be, and then if you would like to join us regularly for Coffee Time that would be wonderful!
I have had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ since I was about 10 years old, was baptized at the age of 12. I knew then that I had a dear Friend, some one who was there for me and I would talk to Him, as I would a friend walking down the road, in my room, where ever I needed.
I would talk out loud, having a wonderful time communing with my Friend.  And that continued through my teens and into my adult life. I talk and share with Him in my car, while I am cleaning house, where ever (and people think I am talking to myself!)
He is someone I have introduced my children to, and now my grandchildren.  I have tried to show them that He is there, real and very much involved!
I would like YOU to meet Him.  Jesus Christ....God's Son born of a virgin named Mary.  He was born very humbly to Mary and an earthly father, Joseph, who stepped in and stepped up (the first "step" dad!) and was obedient to what God had asked him to do and raised Jesus as his own.  Christ's ministry on this earth was not a very long one, but while here he lived a sinless life as an example to us. How to deal with temptation Matthew 4:1-11, 

betrayal 

📖 Matthew 26:14-16, 

family, obedience, and so much more!  

How to be humble despite being God.  

📖 Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!    

But always truthful and to the point, compassionate and full of grace and mercy.  His purpose on this earth was to point us in the direction of the Father. 

📖 John14:6 "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me." 

and to die for our sins.  

📖 Romans 3:23  We "all sin and fall short of the Glory of God."  

A sacrifice was needed for the sins of man....funny thing is I am included in that word "man", it means all who have and do and will inhabit this earth  He came to take on MY sins, to DIE for my sins...so I wouldn't have to. 

📖 Romans 3:25-26 "God presented Christ as an a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of His blood, to be received by faith. 

Without Christ and eternal life I would be separated from God not only here on earth but though all eternity!  But He took the punishment, humiliation, pain and eventually death for me...BUT if that wasn't enough!!! after he was buried in a tomb He rose again 3 days later!  He did not stay dead, He became ALIVE again!      

📖 Luke 24:7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 

For me...and for you, because of His great Love for us!  

 📖 John 3:16 (paraphrase)  For God so loved YOU that He gave His only Son, that if YOU believe in Him YOU will not perish (you will not be separated for all eternity) but YOU will have ETERNAL, EVERLASTING life with God the Father, Jesus the Son in heaven!

My mind works in mysterious and wondrous ways ( because I am "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God the Father!) when I read a scripture or hear a song or sometimes just have a thought I get images and encouraging words.   So as I share what God lays on my heart, my prayer is that you get to know Him better, that He becomes (if He isn't already) your best and dear Friend, your Savior, the boss of your life. And that in spending a few moments with a warm cup, and some good friends you are encouraged (to have a smile on your face and joy in your heart), inspired (to read, search out scriptures) and energized (to go out and SHINE)
These tidbits of encouragement I like to share, (I have no idea who will want to read them)  but in recent days the thought has come that I could blog these bits of encouragement that I believe God gives me. 
We shall see if this is what God has in mind as you join us for Coffee Time, my dear Friend and me!

See you next time!
Tracey

Week 4 October 2025

So November is next! And a full 10 years of Coffee Time with a dear Friend, let's see what is next!

The final post of our CoffeeTime stroll through the decade!

Seeking What is Lost

October 24, 2025

Please forgive the repost. I pray it touches hearts.

Do you feel we spend much of our time looking for lost items? Car keys, which I dont seem to misplace. But the "other" sock, the "other" earing, a shirt I haven't seen since last fall. You can add your own.  It frustrates me when I am SURE it was right here...or there!

Jesus told a parable about time spent looking for something lost. 

📖 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:1-7

Jesus was speaking to EVERYONE. Sinners and tax collectors (lumped together of course), but the Pharisees and other important men were present as well.

📖 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation hast come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9-10

Jesus came to seek and to save.

📖 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. Ezekiel 34:11

We are far more precious to God than any material thing we could be searching for.

He came searching for sinners.

📖  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15

Not to condemn but to save

📖  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18

And though He seeks us out....we MUST turn to Him...not try and hide like Adam and Eve.

📖  Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8-9

( Side note: even as they hid God was calling for them. )

Or keep our stiff backs turned to Him.

📖 those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”  Zephaniah 1:6

📖 My people are determined to turn from me.

    Even though they call me God Most High,

    I will by no means exalt them. Hosea 11:7

We need to seek Him, cry out to Him, He is there. He has already sought you out.

📖   if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

Just ask....

📖 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

🙏🏼 Lord, I pray we all turn our faces toward You, we run to Your open arms! Because, there we will find all we need. 

Jesus does not consider it a waste of time to seek each of us....I pray we take the time to seek Him. ❤️

Week 3 October 2025

October 15, 2025

Beauty In the Dying...Reminder 

 I played "Better Than A Hallelujah" at church this past Sunday. I always think of the song in the fall...because of the first time I was inspired to write this blog in October 2019. Then I reposted three years later, inspired by my Aunt Linda's final months. It seems "funny" to me that I am inspired to repost again...and it is three years again! We lost Aunt Linda three years ago this past Monday.  I have been thinking a lot about Leah as well, she was much like Aunt Linda in her vibrant colors and personality. I have been missing my sister as I know Mom and her siblings are missing each of theirs that have passed (Linda, Sue and Marge). So I am reposting the blog from October 23, 2022 in it's  entirety.  I hope you don't mind. ♥️🍁

Where to start...even though this is a repeat of a blog I wrote back on October 23, 2019 (funny, exactly 3 years ago). Since then, when I am surrounded by all the gorgeous autumn color, I always think about that "beauty in the dying" concept....but especially this fall, this year....my colorful, bright, beautiful Aunt Linda's life was coming to an end. 

How perfectly appropriate she die in October when the foliage all around was so absolutely stunning and filled with the vibrant orange she loved so much!

Though she knew her time here was quickly fading, she lived, loved and laughed to the fullest. 

She made sure each one around her felt loved, just as she had always done. She proclaimed her assurance in her God and her faith....Beauty in the dying as she was living....a Hallelujah!

The following is the 2019 blog, unedited, just as I posted it:

Working on last week's blog...getting the song Better Than A Hallelujah video correct...I wondered if the pictures were the right ones for the song?...appropriate to convey what I was feeling when I listened?

And then it struck me....the absolutely gorgeous fall colors that we have been experiencing, the beautiful scenery....is actually the result of the foliage on the trees dying!  And then I thought ...those pictures are perfect for that song!
"Beautiful the mess were are..."
Because in our brokenness and mess...God can be and is glorified!
We are all dying....we were not meant to live on this earth forever.
📖  As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; Romans 3:10
📖 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

He brings life even in the dying....because the life He brings isn't a life lived in our earthly bodies forever, it is an eternal life for our souls in His presence.
So no matter what physical age we are or what circumstances we find ourselves ...we are all dying....but in that...shouldn't we live it out beautifully!?

📖But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.  So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.  It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.  All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  2 Corinthians 4:7-15

"Even in our misery....God just hears a melody"

📖 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Shouldn't our lives be a "hallelujah" to our Creator?!
📖 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1

We need to let "the honest cries of our broken hearts" become Hallelujahs in our Lord's ears....and let our limitless and boundless God give us joy in our limitations!
God gave us today!  For His purpose!  I pray you find that purpose today!  Even if it is just to lift a thank you; for the scenery around you, for the day before you, for the people around you, for the breath you are taking....
come on!  You have MORE Hallelujahs, I am sure of it!

Better Than a Hallelujah Amy Grant

 If the above video doesn't play try the link below. 

Better Than A Hallelujah (video by Tracey)

Week 2 October 2025

Come To the Table

October 6, 2025

🍞🍷This past Sunday, being the first Sunday of the month, was our communion, or Lord's Supper. As it so happens, it was also World Communion Sunday.  So virtually every Christian Church in the world was observing communion at some point this past Sunday!  What a thought!  The song that was played during our communion time was Come To the Table by Sidewalk Prophets. I have heard it before, it has been played before.  

What struck me was the invitation in the song for people to come to the Lord's Table, and sit beside Him.

I am sure many of us have a thought in our minds of who would be sitting there, and next to Him.

But in reality all are welcome at the table, He calls every sinner to come.

Would we be willing to sit at the table with murderers, thieves, rapists, molesters?  How about with gossips, those who are bitter, resentful, jealous, prideful,.....WHOA  hey...they are not the same!

Oh....but....

📖 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:13-26

The bible says we are ALL sinners, regardless of our offense, 

📖 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22-24

and Christ died for all, 

📖The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Romans 6:10

IF we accept Him..

📖 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, Romans 3:22

and what He has done for us...taking on our sin.

📖“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

Shedding His blood in place of ours

📖Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:27-28

If we come with humble, repentant hearts

we are all welcome at the Table!

🙏🏼Lord, help me to see all those around Your table as You do, washed in the blood of Christ. Fill me with Your compassion, Your grace, and Your Mercy. Thank you that what You did for me saved me and is my invitation to Your table.❤️

🔗Come To the Table