Encouraging Words from Thomas Merton

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You, and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust You always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone." ~Thomas Merton

Long-Overdue

I love blogging. It's such a great mixture of writing and talking, two of my favorite things. It's a chance to verbalize everything from the random and quirky to the deep and reflective. In a way, it's a chance for someone to hear me talking to myself (which my roommate Elizabeth correctly reports I do very frequently).

However, I have great difficulty keeping up with blogging. I knew it'd been a while since I'd written and had been thinking about posting for several weeks on various topics, but I was appalled yesterday when I realized I had not written since Thanksgiving! Seriously?! The only thing to do to remedy the situation was to blog as soon as possible-- hence today's entry.

I think this year I am going to try to blog more frequently but write shorter posts. Being so wordy is usually what leads to my procrastination. This won't be easy as someone who is quite long-winded (and enjoys being so), but I figure it's worth a shot. This is definitely not a resolution. (You can read my first blog entry to find out how I feel about resolutions.) It could perhaps be a goal though. I seem to do o.k. with goals--I started this blog in January 2009 as a means to help me accomplish a goal of writing more, and I'm still writing in it today so that is something.

Finally, I would like to give a "shout-out" to my friend Cara. Although she is a busy wife and teacher (one of the most time-consuming jobs there is), she continually inspires me with her faithfulness to blog on a regular basis. I love reading her witty comments and thoughtful insights, and I am always encouraged to keep on blogging myself...

Happy 2011!