Well, this is my first post. I am reflecting back over the past year and there have been some very, very rough patches but with a lot of great moments thrown in. I feel like I have really grown this past year and I hope to continue to do so in the year to come. This blog is something I have been wanting to do for some time now and I have finally taken the time to sit down and do it. In this blog you will learn A LOT about me, my opinions, my likes, my dislikes, my concerns, books I am ready, television shows, movies, and just about everything else you may or may not have wanted to know! I hope it is entertaining, enlightening, and that maybe something I say will make a difference to someone out there! So, here it goes (you knew it was coming) My New Year rant (I know it is a bit of a cliche but this is just the way I am feeling right now).
In the coming year I am FINALLY going to lose some weight. I am tired of the way I look, tired of clothes not fitting right and just plain need to! I am going to cut loose a LOT of baggage this year, if I don't need it, it's as good as gone. I am going to choose friends more wisely and be a better friend to them. I am extremely tired of people who say they are your friend and they really aren't. I am going to stop living in the past so much and move towards the future, I think a line in Gone With the Wind said it best "Don't look back, it will drag at your heart until that's all you can do is look back" (I paraphrased but you get the idea).
I am going to deepen my spiritual life more. Any of you who know me know that I have have gone from one church to the next, never satisfied. Many people think this is nuts, but I feel I am on a journey and I am trying to find the 'right' path for me. I thought I had found it a few years ago, and I really have about narrowed it down to two choices, but neither of them make me completely happy. I really don't know if that is the point though, to be happy (don't worry I'm not going to go all philosophical or anything just thinking out loud...or on paper I guess, well not paper...oh you know what I mean). I love the beauty and pagentry of the Episcopal Church, but I am not at all happy with their views and beliefs, while my spiritual side is completely filled by the Catholic Church (I converted in 2008 but have fallen away). I find the Episcopal Church to be like a beautiful cake, gorgeous to look at, delicious to eat but empty calories and not good for you, while on the other hand the Catholic Church is like Brussel Sprouts, not really pretty, and not overly delicious but you know they are good for you and are full of things you need and you feel SO much better about yourself for having eaten them (There I go with food references, and I am going to lose weight..hmm).
I am reading a wonderful book right now that is helping me along my journey it is called Light of the World. It is a very in-depth interview with Pope Benedict XVI and it asks some very interesting and tough questions of him. I am inspired by it. I am also in the process of reading the Bible all the way through (something I have never done). I was brought up Southern Baptist and had Bible verses drilled into my head but I never have taken the time to read the Bible through. I am taking it a little at a time and so far I am finding it very enjoyable and enlightening.
I want to do some kind of charity work this coming year as well. There are so many who are hungry, hurting, homeless and broken right here in our own back yard. I do not knock people who go half way round the world to be missionaries but I have always been baffled that these same people will pay a fortune to go to Timbuktu to build a school for people but will not give a second at the local soup kitchen, homeless shelter or children's charity. Charity begins AT HOME so the saying goes! I am looking into something that both me and my son can possibly do together as I am trying very hard to instill this love of neighbor in him as well.
I could go on for days writing this but I am going to tie this portion up for now. I hope you all enjoy this and if you have any suggestions, questions, comments (make them nice or at least constructive) please feel free to let me know. Happy New Year everyone and PLEASE be careful and DO NOT DRIVE IF YOU HAVE BEEN DRINKING!!
