I know I know! I
haven’t written blogs for October, November OR December. I will blame it mostly on my laziness but I
have also been super busy. It’s not like
I haven’t been challenging myself for these months...I just haven’t written!
October started with my pastor challenging the congregation
to keep a happiness journal. He told us
to start a journal and on a daily basis, write something down that makes us
joyful. I wanted to start one so
desperately but, at that time in my life, there wasn’t much to be thankful
for. I was working at a place that
wasn’t giving me enough hours, making paying rent and bills stressful as all
heck! While I wasn’t finding joy in many
things, I definitely learned humility, having to beg form friends.
Things were just starting to look up for me when I woke up
on Halloween morning. My plan for that
day was to wake up, write my blog on how I was really trying to be joyful and
then head to a party that night with my growth group friends. I went on Facebook, like I do in bed every
morning, and read an article my friend posted.
One of our growth group members had been killed in a car crash. It didn’t seem like reality! While I can’t say I knew him well, I couldn’t
get my act together that day. I felt
sick to my stomach and could not even function at work. I was happy to have time already scheduled
out to be with my growth group friends that night but as you can assume, the
mood wasn’t upbeat and I stayed for an hour.
My joyfulness quickly diminished.
November started off in a haze. Like I said, I didn’t know Matt well but his
death just took me by surprise. I have
experienced death in my life but I have always been prepared for it. Matt’s death was so sudden that it seemed
more like a horrible nightmare. I
finally snapped out of my funk after I went to a tribute for him. See, he was an actor in the local theaters, a
reason why our group didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him. Thursdays, the nights we would meet, were
also rehearsal nights. Matt loved acting
though and so we got to spend our time with him, watching his plays. His tribute was put on by his actor family
and there, we got to to see more into who Matt was. I got to see that Matt was the same person in
growth group as he was to everyone around him.
While it doesn’t seem fair that someone should be taken at 30 years old,
I eventually found peace and really started living out my challenge of the
previous month, to find joy in the little things. You never know how many days you have left to
live….I want to spend it loving those around me and being who God created me to
be.
Once I started changing my attitude towards life, I started seeing
everything in life as a blessing. I even
got a job teaching science! While I am
still working on my goal of being an accountant, I have taken on a huge challenge
in itself…teaching science to kids K through 6th. My goal this month has been to learn the name
of all of my students. It has been tough
but I am definitely getting there!
So to sum it up, I am thankful, I am blessed and I am ready to start this new year with a whole new outlook on life! Here are some moments that have summed up my year. So thankful for my friends and family!
Weekend camping trip
Ali's wedding
Christmas Collective at the Flood
