Return

Time passes ... as time is meant to do. I have decided to return to this blog so I have a space to challenge myself and my God. A place to wrestle with theology and my relationship with my Lord. What it means to be a Christian if that is what I am. A place to reflect and contemplate God's fingerprint on my life. 

It is my current desire to make a massive change in this area and begin a pilgrimage of a sort, one that goes inward to a space I have yet to discover. Here I want to share that journey. 

I began this blog, my first one, so long ago. The purpose was for a place to write about my journey at that time. And, as journeys tend to do, they wander ... all over the place. And sometimes, after years of journey, you also return. Not to the place you left, but to a new place that is like the old place but not. Today I return. 

But here's the thing - today is actually February 12, 2023. Fourteen years after the last entry. In this time, much has happened - my father has passed away, I've become estranged from my brother, and I feel like I struggle daily. I am almost 60 and am what demographics call an Elder Orphan. I was once told by a friend that he had never met someone who goes from crisis to crisis like I do - it's like I never have time to build on a foundation because my foundation is always crumbling. I never really saw it like that, but I suppose there is truth in it. However, in spite of everything, I still have hope. In fact, the more I reflect, the more the roots of my hope imbed themselves deeper into me. 

What you're going to notice is that I am going to begin writing here again. However, I have to transfer writings I've done on another blog to here and I want to keep their actual dates. So, too - this is the marker, but it will be dated prior to the first transfer. Does that make sense? I want clear blogs for clear reasons and I have written spiritual wrestings on another blog. They need to be moved here. 

So ... here's the deal: 

This blog you are reading will be dated November 30, 2018 (even though it was actually written on Feb 12, 2023). Nov 30, 2018 was shortly after returning from a most difficult life experience that surely has marked the rest of my life. The loss of my brother. You can read about that in another blog: Navel Gazing, Star Gazing, and GMST. I'm sure I will touch upon it again in coming writings. That blog ended up having a lot of spiritual wrestlings and I decided they all need to be moved here. It will take a bit of time, but I will complete it before I continue with another on a day yet to come. 

That's where the following writings have been transferred from. 

Subsequent transfers, keeping the actual written dates: 
- Dec 2, 2018 (First Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 9, 2018 (Second Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 1, 2019 (First Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 8, 2019 (Second Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 15, 2019 (Third Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 22, 2019 (Fourth Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 24, 2019 (Christmas Eve. I had actually repeated one from here, so I will replace this with my favourite Christmas story - Barrington Bunny.) 
- Mar 1, 2020 (Lent 2020)
- Mar 8, 2020 (Lent Day 12)
- Mar 22, 2020 (Lent Day 26 - I might keep this in two places, as it also marks my first entry on COVID, the pandemic that we lived (are living?) through.) 
- Apr 5, 2020 (Palm Sunday)
- Apr 11, 2020 (Good Friday)
- Nov 29, 2020 (First Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 6, 2020 (Second Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 20, 2020 (Fourth Sunday in Advent)
- Nov 28, 2021 (First Sunday in Advent) 
- Dec 12, 2021 (Third Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 19, 2021 (Fourth Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 25, 2021 (Christmas Day ... another repeat from that other one! I will post my own short story here if I can find it!) 
- Nov 27, 2022 (First Sunday in Advent) 
- Dec 4, 2022 (Second Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 11, 2022 (Third Sunday in Advent)
- Dec 18, 2022 (Fourth Sunday in Advent) 
- Dec 25, 2022 (Christmas Day) 
I sure seemed to reflect on Advent a lot, didn't I? Anything after the last date of Dec 25 will be written on a day yet to arrive, as I have yet to live it, too. 

This will keep all my spiritual wrestling in one place. And the other blogs can be used for other things. Yes, I know they are all overlapped together, but at this point, I think I'll keep them somewhat separated. In that way, if someone is not spiritual or doesn't want to read those things, they just skip this blog. Works for me! I hope it works for you! 

So, God ... here we go! You and me! 

Let's see where we go on this wild ride called Life! 

L'Chaim! To Life! 


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