8.25.11

Today, I feel gratitude for:
- Safe arrival of G yesterday - it's awesome to have my matron of honor in town
- Getting to sleep in today and having the WHOLE day to do all the little things that need to be completed before the wedding
- A fabulous surprise shower from my coworkers
- Encouragement from friends that know exactly what to say and when I need to hear it
- The morning meditation I read today about being loyal (I've included it below) - because I definitely have struggled with this over this past year with all of my extra's!

Dear God, my heart is full of love and gratitude today. I am so excited and happy to be marrying the man of my dreams in a couple of days, and to have our family and friends here. Please grant me knowledge of Your will for me and the power to carry that out. Please help me to be efficient and calm during what could be a stressful time and to remember that this is all for an awesome reason: because You brought me and S together at the perfect times in our lives to fall in love with each other and get married. Please help us to keep our eye on the prize: being married to each other, and forget about any of the little stressing details that distract from that. Please grant safe travel to my family and loved ones, and keep a loving arm around those that need some extra TLC today. Amen.


If you don't have any loyalty to what you are doing, you ought not be doing it.
-- Tom Harding

We understand loyalty to friends and family members, but does loyalty to an activity imply the same thing? To be loyal to an activity means to stick with it even when we hit the inherent snags. Let's consider a hobby for instance. Are we so frustrated when we can't track down a particular stamp or seem unable to complete the 5000 piece puzzle that we consider quitting the activity in disgust? If so, we probably lack the loyalty that Tom alludes to.

Each of us has to consider for ourselves whether or not we value this kind of loyalty when it comes to the "extracurriculars" in our lives. We're not failures if we decide to drop some hobby for another one. Sometimes we can't see that some interest doesn't fit us all that well until we get deep into it. What's more important is that we remain loyal to our values, whatever they are. When some activity loses its appeal, for any reason, and we continue to stay with it out of shame or embarrassment, we're not being loyal to that which is most important - ourselves.

Today, I'll ask myself if my hobbies suit my true interests.