Bridges, trains, and the acrid smell of industry; rivers marked with barges of coal, these and many more are the images of home. I am a Pittsburgh boy, and, truthfully, that never leaves you. There is something about the city and the region that captures a piece of your heart forever. It is part of what makes our sports fans so annoying to others. We wear black and gold on days when none of our teams play, and we have an enormous passion for our hometown.

My wife and I just returned from a trip to our hometown. It was good to see family, visit some familiar places, and eat some favorite foods. We even brought some of those foods home with us. For me, it was also a kind of reset on my life. Something about being back in that environment reminds you of the steel-like strength that runs though you. It was a very visceral experience that helped me reconnect with who I am and where I am from.

Hopefully, each of us has a place like that, somewhere we can go to recapture our identity. It is a valuable gift to make a pilgrimage to places where we can look back and look forward at the same time; where we can allow the things that shaped us to give us fresh vision for our future. It was a special blessing for us to be there at the beginning of the New Year.

Spiritually, we need those reset moments as we make our way along our journey. In a way, this was the theme of many recent blog posts as we journeyed through Christmas and into New Year’s Day. This season is especially good at helping us reconnect with our identity in Christ, our place in the Christian story, and our relationship with others. However, holidays are not the only times we can connect with the roots of our faith. Every day offers us opportunities to engage God, and “reset” our faith.

Along with the regional foods we brought home, I also made sure to bring back some items with the Pittsburgh Steeler logo. Yes, there is a crucial game tonight, but I will not be there, and will likely be wearing these treasures in the privacy of my own home. Yet, they will remind me each time I wear them, or see them, of my roots. They will call me back to who I am, and to what I learned about myself on this trip.

Likewise, my Bible, my spiritual and prayer journal, my appointments with God, and every other spiritual reminder in my life, calls me back to my rooted place in God. Each of us can take advantage of these parts of our daily lives to allow the Holy Spirit to gently correct and inspire us. We can allow these points of connection to reveal God’s heart toward us and vision for our lives. Our prayer time can reorient our lives, our time in the word can strengthen and transform us, and our worship can reset our priorities.

There may be times where we need extend time with God to allow ourselves to become centered on the path once again, but the moment-by-moment course corrections are just as valuable. Each becomes a tool God uses to shape and direct our lives.

As we approach the end of the Christmas season, and embrace what awaits us in 2015, we can let God work in all our circumstances to connect us to him, to one another, and in ministry to the world. Just imagine what God is about to do, and who we are about to become in Christ!