kellym40 General

A Reflection For The New Year

Wow! It’s been nearly three and a half years since I’ve last posted. I’ve had a few periods where I have gone without posting anything. I think that has to change.

I always mean to get back to writing after one of these seemingly long breaks, and sometimes I do get back after a while but then it only lasts for an apparent predetermined amount of time, and them before I know it, I’m not writing and then a few days become a week, then a week turns into a month, and then in this case a month turns into almost three and a half years!

The last time I posted was in August of 2020. As near as I can recollect, that was when some things were returning after the big shutdown from COVID. At the time, I was working at the local newspaper as the sports editor. Everything was shut down in March and through the summer. Word came out schools were going to open and sports, among some other things, were going to resume. So just like that I had to get back to my busy routine, with the intention of continuing my posts. That obviously didn’t happen.

Many things occurred during that time I returned to the sports desk writing about the many great sports accomplishments from the area high school and junior high athletic activities. Fall came and went, and then another new year rushed in – 2021. By May of that year, I began the transition into a new venture at the newspaper – SALES. I did that for about the last two and a half years.

Currently, I am what you might call “in-between” jobs. So now I am taking this time to think, pray and reflect. I’ve been busy and life has gone so fast. I really believe it is time to stop and slow down. That’s exactly what I am trying to do with this time.

Before my hiatus, I was posting bible verses and commenting on scripture. I was trying to share some positive, good insight into the world, since it seemed the world was in a “dark place” during the pandemic. It would appear the world still needs some light to be shed. Hopefully soon there will be some more “light” shared through this space on a somewhat regular basis.

Starting Off In A New Year

This post is intended to be the ball to get things rolling. I just want to say over the last month and a half or so, not only a new calendar year came, but also a new liturgical calendar year began within the Catholic Church with the coming of Advent and Christmas. By the way, I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and celebrated the coming of 2024 safely. Let’s all try to put those New Year’s resolutions to the test and actually fulfill them this year! I personally didn’t really make any resolutions this time, I mean none verbally or none that I really committed myself too. I did have some thoughts and one of those was just to be a better man – spiritually, mentally – for myself and to those around me.

This, I believe, everyone could do. If everyone would smile, greet others with humility and kindness, and treat others as one would like to be treated as it says in the Gospel of Matthew:

“For I was hungry and you gave me good, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me … Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine you did for me.” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40 NAB)

We do unto others what we would like to have done to us. When the Magi arrived to see the baby Jesus and told Mary and Joseph all that had been spoken to them by the angel, Mary took those things and reflected on them in her heart. We should all be like Mary and think with our hearts before we act on something in a negative way. Because as John writes in his first letter, “No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.” (1 John 2:23 NAB)

Let us all strive to do good, to be good and to have and keep the Holy Father within us.

Happy New Year!

kellym40 General

Changes: moving, new opportunities, new challenges

Here it is – another year about to end. It is about two hours away from where I am until the new year comes. Most people are with families and friends. For many, the new year is a time for new beginnings….new hopes….new dreams….a new outlook on things. In any case, it can also be a time to look back and reflect. Thinking about what has transpired over the last year and what might be look forward to in 2019.

Although, before I go further I will say that some of the content for this post is from an earlier post from a few years ago. I thought it was relevant to this one as well. I mean, after all, a new year is almost upon us.

Resolutions are made by many for the new year. I failed to do so this year at this point. But I might make some right before the clock strikes 12 a.m. My resolutions never seem to stick so I found it unnecessary to resign to make resolutions that I may or may not keep. I wrote in 2014 that I was going to strive to make small attainable goals throughout the year so my goals and needs will be easier to hopefully obtain. I’m not sure if I achieved all I set out to do, but I will try that for this new year.

For almost nine months, I have lived in a new place. I made a big move that I thought I wouldn’t make. I am adjusting and enjoying my new life. I also started a new job in October as a sports editor for the county newspaper. It’s been challenging, fun, and exciting. All in all it has been enjoyable. Of course, it has its ups and downs like any job I suppose, but I am happy and living well.

It’s funny. In 2014 when I wrote this new year’s post, I was working in print media. Now I am working in it again. I feel it is a better job than what I had four years ago.

At any rate, I am pleased with my current situation and happy that I made the decision to move. It was a little touch and go a few months down here in Texas, but I prayed and persevered. Now I am in a good place.

I haven’t kept up with my blog like I was going to. Perhaps this new year will prove otherwise. If I can take my own advice and set small, attainable goals, I can hopefully reach those goals. I think that is good advice for anything. And anyone.

kellym40 General

New Year, New Commitment

Here we are about half way into the first day of this new year. It is a time – for some – for new beginnings….new hopes….new dreams….a new outlook on things….whatever it may be it also is a time to look back and reflect. Thinking about what has transpired over the last year and what might be look forward to in 2014.

Many people have made resolutions for the new year. I failed to do so. My resolutions never seem to stick so I found it unnecessary to resign to make resolutions that I may or may not keep. Instead, I am going to strive to make small attainable goals throughout the year and attempt to make those so my goals and needs will be easier to hopefully obtain.

For me, 2013 was a good year. It hasn’t been the best, but it’s been good. I mean I still have my health (may not be the best, but it is keeping me alive), I have my family, friends and acquaintances. I have been through ups and downs, as many have I suppose, but I’ve managed to keep going. And that I can be thankful for.

I have been married for a little over a year and a half now and celebrated the anniversary in San Antonio with the wife and kids last year, while we also attended the family reunion on my mom’s side. I saw many cousins and other relatives I haven’t seen in years. I was also able to meet my brother’s “twin.” That was interesting. In other news from 2013, my step-daughter was accepted into the army, after a tumultuous first year of college, and actually leaves in less than a week. My wife is sad to see her go now that her departure is getting that much closer. But we will cope and carry on. I completed a semester of college teaching where it had its ups and downs but I managed to get through it. The time just wasn’t right to be able to continue for the spring semester. Therefore, I decided to continue with my current job and search for other/additional work. I am currently working at a job that is somewhere in my background and that is print media. However, there are ups and downs and I still continue to search for more. And that leads me to my next thought.

My biggest concern I have for the new year is my financial and employment situation. Although I have been through several job changes over last year, I have found a steady job that has kind of kept me going but it does have its own ups and downs and it is only a part-time job. I am looking for something that I enjoy, that is something in my educational background or interests (like radio, theatre, film, writing/journalism), and something that I can be happy and provide for myself and my family. However, my current city of residence does not really provide for that. So I think that must change at some point. It’s just somewhat difficult right now to find something at the current time that meets those standards. The struggle will continue until I am able to make that change.

I have some leads out, and as I said, continue to search for more. I will accept what I have now. I will accept the fact that I CAN change…and hold on to the hope that it WILL change.

I don’t know what the future may hold, so all I can do is to do my best and keep going.

In the words of the Grateful Dead: “I will get by…I will survive.”