Over the years

I began blogging in 2012 and stopped in 2013.  I didn't get mad, I didn't get criticized, I just got busy and stopped.  I went back to work part time, which I got a few blogs in as I began at Mt. Carmel Presbyterian, but it just stopped.  I thought about it, just didn't get back in to do it.

Life has changed over the last couple years.  Friends and family have moved, some have gotten married, some have had children and some have died.  I have written more sermons, moved children to school, moved some back home, and moved some away again.  I have had some health issues, restructured my eating habits and lifestyle, lost weight and feel much better.  That helped me justify some new clothes, which was really neat!  Life has been happy and sad, but through it all God has been good, and even when I have been in tears with what was a broken heart, God's grace has broken through the grief and love has surrounded me, and I have found the way to begin to heal from the hurt.

Yet, even though these opening paragraphs have a lot of  "I's" in them, life isn't about me.  As I sit in the observer's seats at our church's General Assembly, as I have semi watched the "sit-in on Capitol Hill", I am always reminded, it is not about just me, or just you, or just the other person;  it is about us.

So I am making a committed effort to get back to a blog.  My intention is that this blog will not a place to rant about how frustrated I am at Congress, or The Donald, or The Hillary, or the Church (Presbyterian and Universal).  My intention is that this will not be the place where I embarrass my husband, children or any other members of my family.  My intention is not to make this a sermon, I write enough of those. I will try to review and edit what I desire to write so if I do fall off the wagon and begin to fuss and fume, I will catch myself.  It might not end, but I hope it will be worth the words.  Words are powerful and I don't wish to abuse them.

What I intend is to share hopeful, good news of the love I witness in family, friends, and strangers on the street.  What I intend is to give thanks to the beauty around us, and how we can make our communities, churches, and lives better through environmental stewardship, through God's gift of patience and endurance, and through loving one another.  What I intend is to remind us that no matter what may happen in our lives and in our world, God has always been and still is in control, and that God works everything to His Good.

Please join me on this journey.

Olivia