today is the day i begin a blog

So why all the fuss over this blog business? After the economy turned, much to our demise, I think I'm drawn more and more to folks' day to day business and lives...whether that be via facebook (not ashamed to admit it), friends' blogs, or simply having folks over more often to see where we are really are in life. Maybe it is true...this downturn has effected (affected?) the way we view community, relationships, and the opportunities to meet each other where we are, no matter how terrible the circumstances.

Which, in turn, has led to lots more coffee/drink dates with friends where I really get to see what's happening in their lives. Went to coffee this morning with a new friend named Charlotte. She mentioned her blog, which I looked up the hour I got home from our meeting. It seemed set apart... although I have to admit, I am not an avid blog viewer. Partly because when I try to search for someone's blog, I can never find it. Need to work on my blogging skills. I was also urged on by an email that went out from our pastor sometime yesterday - encouraging us to read a post by a good friend that speaks about belonging/loneliness/exclusivity of church life. This man is a good friend, and I both love and respect anything he or his wife have to talk about.

That said, here is a blog entitled "the Passage of Hours." After many years of counseling and addiction therapy, there is such a truth to the "take it one day at a time" notion. The Lord's Prayer mentions the same thing when stating, "Give, us this day, our DAILY bread." Unfortunately, for the addict, as well as any mother in the world, day to day just doesn't cover the grace I need to pour over me. Hourly. Minutely. So, the passage of hours seemed a pretty good title for what I feel daily...at times JOY over this gift of life. But more often times an underlying grievous/burdened/guilty/angry/melancholy spirit over what His word calls a vapor. If it's a vapor, where we're to learn how to love Him, understand Him, know Him better - why?

I am encouraged and thankful for:
true friends
a hot bath
groceries in the pantry
the ability to conceive
being a woman
the hope that lives in me, despite my disobedience
my husband
my two children
hardwood floors
the ability to grieve a dead dog - almost daily
my two sisters
His Word
an open window
literacy
a soft bed
antiques
second chances, and third, and fourth
rain
then sun
clean water
night
cymbalta
the bay
the marsh
coffee
kind words
honest words
laughter