Lent begins

February 6, 2008 Ash Wednesday is upon us. It feels like slow motion from when 2008 began, yet already the Lenten season. At times life feels like one big hallucination. My hope, to share uplifting, soul searching thoughts on my work website each day under some type of religion or "faces of faith" section. However, that ball is rolling at a snail's pace. So, voila! Here is my start up version of what hopefully will be an eye-opening experience for myself as well as anyone else who chooses to venture onto my blog. For those of you interested in clearing the clutter from your lives, log onto http://www.americancatholic.org/. The St Anthony Messenger Press has a wonderful day-by-day spiritual walk for followers interested in coming up for air every once in a while. Today's topic is clearing the clutter. One way to do so is to take time to pray or just reflect away from the craziness of life.



Now for those of you who think I am some holy roller type, well I am not. I am just trying to keep the insanity from overtaking my hectic, fast-paced life. One way I personally stay sane and in moderate control is through my faith life, my religious upbringing, and my music. For some reason, this grounds me and keeps me from going completely looney! I'm sure it is not for everyone, but for me, it works. I hear folks looking for some gigantic miracle to konk them on the head. Well, it is the small miracles in life that get us through. My last Friday started off pretty rotten. It was filled with rushing around, getting stuck in traffic, dealing with difficult people. And this is all before I ventured into my "real paying job." Yet when I walked into work, what do my wondering eyes see but Midge, the Geauga County Sheriff K-9 Dog. I took this as a sign from God to calm down, take a deep breath, and forget the crazy day thus far. Being a huge dog lover, I let all the frustrations exit my mind and let soothing, peaceful thoughts enter.



Lent is a time for us to try extremely hard to do just that. Let the small or big annoyances in life go and focus on what is real, what is true, what really matters most in our lives. Each one of us has something different that is near and dear to us. Let us look deep within, find it, and focus.



This blogging is fun, yet very thought provoking and exhausting. I hope I did not bore everyone with my first try at "blogging fun." I'm turning off the computer and hoping to come back tomorrow with some more thought provoking or just whimsical anecdotes to help us all (especially me) try to make it through the 2008 Lenten Season without totally blowing it. Come Easter Sunday, I hope I truly can look back and say I have accomplished SOMETHING useful for the great man above!