Waiting for Patience

The last time I was at the doctor I was talking about my health, which was great, and I mentioned that I wanted to make some changes to be healthier (read: smaller). I prefaced my question with something that I know to do which is to lose weight: exercise more and eat less. Dr. W confirmed it is really all about math - more calories out than in. Her advice wasn't just "eat less, exercise more." It was actually more helpful, take the next year and make a different lifestyle change every month and in a year your life will be different. I really took that to heart and when I got home, I made a list of 12 habits or lifestyle changes that I wanted to undertake. I gave myself credit for a few that I had started a while ago that were great changes that I felt made a huge difference. At the end of the year I will probably have made about 7 or 8 overall changes but some of them were steps to bigger things. They are small steps that have made a huge difference in my life. I'v...

Today is the day before my 32nd birthday. Thirty-Two years alive in this world and I sit down to try to actively think about what I've done in the last year, what I've accomplished to keep my mind from being overwhelmed by what I haven't done: marriage and kids. When I was a kid, it snowed every single year on my birthday until I moved to Charlotte almost 9 years ago. Now this year, well it's the day before, but in Charlotte that's close enough to count I wake up to the below. So many of my birthday parties were cancelled or changed when I was a kid because of a giant snowstorm. But anyway, back to the things I've accomplished this past year. I became a godmother, again, to a young woman who came into the Church through RCIA with her father. At 17 she was baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil. I was promoted at work. Twice. I've been given the opportunity to develop a new product offering and am going to spend the next year implementing i...

In general I appreciate when people like me, as I think most people do. For me, it's really hard when people dislike me, even if I don't have to be around them all of the time. I get anxious thinking about the next time we will be in the same location and if I'll be able to just kindly avoid them or if there will be an awkward confrontation. There's a line in scripture about how blessed we are when others despised us because they hated Him first. Him, being Jesus, of course. But is that always the case? Am I applying a section of scripture to a situation to which it has no relationship? Am I using a passage of scripture to make myself feel better about the actions that I'm going to take, to justify it to myself and others? Am I manipulating the Lord's words to promote my own agenda in the name of the Lord? I wonder this regarding many things. Passages like "The Lord will fulfill His promises" in relationship to my relationship status. Did He promis...