It is Personal!

Hello, my friends! While I know I have not posted since the beginning of Lent back in March, rest assured that I have still been trying to reflect on where I see the Spirit working in my life and in the lives of others. Since my last post, much has transpired in my life:

We have celebrated Holy Week (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday), Easter Sunday, the entire Easter Season, and Pentecost. I hope that in that time you were all able to find the story of faith reflective in your own lives by understanding that we all suffer (Good Friday), we all wait in hope for something better (Holy Saturday), and we all have resurrection moments that bring us hope (Resurrection Sunday) to go out and share that hope with others (Pentecost).

I found myself trying to live out the above events (known as the Paschal Mystery) amid the other goings-on in my life. In the last couple of months, I have run the Boston Marathon and have finished my first year of teaching and coaching at my high school alma mater. I've gone away on retreat for a few days. I have watched my younger brother marry his high school sweetheart and have visited wonderful friends in the Atlanta/Athens, Georgia, areas. And now I find myself in Edwards/Vail, CO, finding time to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation in the Rocky Mountains while resting and training in the cool, clean air that comes with being 7,000 or more feet above sea level.

Though all of the above events have their own intricacies and back stories that I wish I would have spent the time to share over the last few months, one thought/reflection has been constant. Before I expand on this thought, take a minute to think about the people that bring you the most joy as well as the people who seem to bring you the most anguish. Once you have done that, call to mind that each of those people are blessed with gifts, talents, and skills that have the potential to positively influence all those around them. Remember this especially when thinking of the people who bring you anguish. Now that you have done this you are ready for the reflection.

We have all heard the saying/disclaimer, “Don’t take this personally, but…” Well, this saying is the basis for my reflection. Over the last few months, the idea of “taking things personally” has really resonated with me. I have come to be a proponent of taking everything personally. Why? Because when we take things personally, we then internalize the situation which provides us with more clarity of the complexities that life throws our way. For example, when we watch the news and see awful injustices taking place in our communities or around the world, do we sympathize and move on, or do we try to “take it personally” as if those injustices were happening to us and our loved ones? If we can do the latter, do you think we may be more likely to understand the struggles of others and view them through eyes of love and compassion? I firmly believe so.

For Christians, taking things personally is what our faith is all about. We believe that God took things so personally that he gave us Jesus to teach us how to be personal with each other. Our “churchy” word for this is the Incarnation (God made flesh), or as we might think of it, God made personal. So, as I conclude, I hope that we can all take things a bit more personally because in doing so, I believe that we will come to know God, ourselves, and others, in a tremendously deep way that will change the world for the better.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Here are some pictures from recent events. Enjoy.