Dear Friends,

I apologize for the fact that I haven’t been writing every week like I normally do.  I haven’t been particularly busy, but when I sat down to write, the words just weren’t really there.  A few weeks ago, I had a sort of realization that I needed to be quieter—in conversation, in my own head, and especially in prayer, the most important conversation of my life.  So maybe that is part of why I felt like I didn’t have a lot to say. (continue reading…)

Dear Friends,

I want to reference last week’s blog and draw a parallel to Christianity. I think it is fair to say that Christians and would-be Christians alike often struggle with giving their entire life over to God. In the book Spiritual Freedom, Fr. Dave Pivonka reflects on one aspect of this when he mentions how we sometimes struggle with completely letting go of certain sins. Perhaps, he suggests, we cling to our sin because it is the only thing we possess that is truly ours—the only thing we have that God has not given us.

I know that there have been times in my life when I was pretty sure the Lord was nudging me to either stop doing something detrimental or to start doing something He wanted me to do. Sometimes, I resisted because I didn’t think I was equipped. Other times, I resisted because I didn’t want to sacrifice—whether it was a vice I was particularly attached to or simply time and energy I would have to dedicate to doing His will instead of my own.  Though I am a firm believer that His plan for my life will bring me more joy than my own plan ever could, I still frequently struggle with actually applying that belief. (continue reading…)