It has been a challenging, but wonderful few days. For the first time in 23 years I was not with any family member on Christmas Eve and Christmas day!!!! Although, we had planned on celebrating Christmas a little later this year as my brother was spending Christmas with his wife’s family, I still struggled with being away from family. However, I did have social events and work planned for the few days which kept me busy. Welcoming friends invited me to midnight mass for Christmas Eve and then for Christmas dinner on the 25th! I was able to truly rest on the full meaning of the season and how lucky I was to have people to celebrate with. Storms across the mid-west left my parents without any children home for Christmas Eve and prevented them from visiting grandparents. It was a different sort of holiday season, but I tell you, I think we all are able to recognize the value in the time we do have together.
I arrived in MN on the 26th and am so excited to be here for the week! I was able to spend a splendid 24 hours with my grandparents who are my biggest role models. I aspire to be like my grandma when I am 80 years old; she’s thoughtful, compassionate, healthy, and the MOST spiritually driven person I know. As I conversed with her about some of the struggles I am facing, she simply said, “Get on your knees and pray.” Honestly, I have never really thought about actually getting on my knees to pray!!! I’m constantly talking to God about my daily life, but actually kneeling before Him with the intent to give everything up to Him in prayer has never occurred to me. I think its about time I try!!! Prayer is powerful, refreshing, and relieving. The piece of advice my wise grandmother told me was to involve myself in activities I enjoy. You may be thinking…well, DUH! But she was’t saying to keep reading or painting or exercising. She meant get involved where other people are (i.e. join a choir, extracurricular league of some kind, help out with youth group, etc) There’s another goal for me in 2010! Get involved in something where I can meet people who enjoy the same things I do.
AHhh…now this are just a few of the inspirations I have learned in a mere 3 days!!! I tell ya…its amazing what you learn when you truly engage yourself in a conversation. Put that blackberry away, leave your cellphone in your car and look the person in the eye as you converse. This is called ACTIVE listening. When I truly absorb every word the other person is saying, I come away from a conversation with more knowledge than when I began. Here’s my goal for you as we approach 2010….be an ACTIVE listener in your every day conversations. Remove all distractions and place all attention on whom you are speaking with. Take a minute after the conversation and see what you have learned!
So here it is…an inspiration for you to ponder as you go about your days:
Center yourself in integrity of the Spirit
Place your worries, struggles, and joys to the power higher than yourself!!
