by David Morgan, Lawrence County Executive
Welcome to 2025! I am honored and excited to begin another year as your County Executive. We are truly blessed to live in Lawrence County, and I pray this year brings additional blessings to our community, to you, and your family.
My family and congregation typically begin the New Year with a Daniel Fast, based on a 21-day period of fasting and praying undertaken by the prophet Daniel.
For three weeks, we avoid sugar, caffeine, and heavily processed foods to concentrate on clean eating: unprocessed vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and lean meats.
We also fast from things that distract us from God, like social media, television, video games, and endless other things that occupy our minds and time. Unhealthy eating can lead to illness and chronic conditions, which are immense distractions in our lives.
The goal of the Daniel Fast is to make us better able to hear from God about his purpose for our lives and work to accomplish it. Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that each of us is born with a God-given plan? And we don’t have to strive for it, just make room to listen and follow His leading.
It’s equally important to recognize that everyone has a specially-designed purpose. Doing so helps eliminate jealousy and pride from our lives, which are also distractions. Romans 12:3-8 speaks directly to this:
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
I hope to do a better job of recognizing others’ gifts in 2025. Like many of you, I love sports and athletes’ accomplishments. These are gifts we and the world celebrate on a regular basis, beginning with a child’s first venture onto the field at 4 or 5.
Every day is the best first day to begin the habit of praising others as they pursue their God-given purpose. Children, especially, need to hear this. If adults can get distracted from what we truly need to do, imagine how it must be for our children, who strive so hard to please us.
In the spirit of recognizing our children’s gifts, I hope you will look over the list of children who brought back awards from a recent State Beta Club Convention, published in the Wednesday, January 1 edition of both local newspapers. It includes the names of future scientists, inventors, musicians, artists, teachers, actors, entrepreneurs, interpreters, writers, doctors, and government leaders. I’m especially fond of the fourth-grade state math champion – Eden Morgan!
Let’s resolve this year to look for ways to encourage one another, no matter where we are on the path to our purpose, or how long we’ve been on it.
