A New Attempt

Well...hello there.

Long time, no see.


I've been thinking a lot about big changes and vocation and what we are called to do with our precious lives lately.  And I've also been stressing about the fact that our (already windled-down) expenses still seem to eclipse our income every single month.  The latter has driven me to thinking constantly about what I could do for extra work; how I could possibly fit in a part-time job when my "day" job often requires evening work several nights a week, not to mention weekends (ahem, Sundays).  I love that job, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't exactly leave me free time for extra earning after a less-than-ideal ministry salary.

I also have two toddlers at home who need to be cared for and a hard-working husband who can only work so many hours during the week.  So....it has been difficult to come up with something to supplement our income.

That said, the first pondering is a separate task that was initiated by this desperate search for more money to temporarily allay our financial distress.  I had to start thinking not just about what I COULD do, but what I SHOULD do.  What have I been trained to do?  And more importantly, what was I CREATED to do in this life?  Not just earn money and pay bills, but how am I making the best use of God's gifts to work towards the kingdom and the common good of my family, my community, and larger society?

These are big questions and most of us who think about vocation will think about them over the course of our entire lives.  I think they shift as we age and life throws different curve balls our way, children come along and grow or unexpected challenges and blessings emerge.  I am okay with re-inventing myself several times over the course of my life and think it is far more interesting that way.

This is a very long-winded way of saying that one of the things I realized that I liked to do and that I was good at was writing.  I love reflecting on the Word of God or on how the Gospel message can (and SHOULD!) intersect with the happenings on our planet and daily lives and I also like sharing cute photos of my kids and talking about our attempts to live a liturgical and balanced life that is also very real and messy and dirty and stressful and frustrating and exhausting and wonderful.

So, I came back to this long-dormant blog and will see where we go.  I don't know what the general content or theme will be other than what comes to mind, so hopefully there will be something of interest here, if not for a larger audience then at least as an outlet for me and to get me writing more for whatever might be in store down the road.

Thanks for joining me!