On-Campus Beauty

I live inside a postcard from God.

Tumbling into 2019

     Merry Christmas, and happy New Year! It's hard to believe yet another 365 days have passed and I'm still living and loving in this beautiful, fast-paced world of ours. I thought about doing a "2018 in review" post, but I didn't do much in the past year besides be a student, and there's little else in view for the near future, so I decided to pass it up. 

     This year, I really wanted to come up with one good, solid thing to make my Resolution and put all my effort into living it out. The problem was, I couldn't think of anything concrete enough to put into practice on such a large scale. (Things like "be more patient" and "learn to let go of control" were nice ideas, but unrealistic as achievable goals.) So, instead, I thought of a few smaller and less life-altering things to make into habits this year. What, after all, is virtue but a good habit? (Please don't quote Plato at me for saying that.)

     Daily, I'm resolving to do morning and night prayer when I wake up and go to bed, write in my journal, and make an examination of conscience. These are all things I already habitually do, but writing them down and making them official helps me not to forget. 

     Weekly, I plan to do at least one creative thing such as art, writing, playing piano, etc., as well as set aside time to write letters and make phone calls.

     Monthly, I want to get rid of/give away 3 - 5 things I own but don't need or don't use (this category will mostly be clothing). Lately I've been feeling the burden of owning too much stuff, and while minimalism sounds nice in theory, it's hard to put into practice. 

     As more general resolutions, I want to focus this year on prayer and penance, especially penance, which I'm not very good at. In addition, I'm going to see how well I can live out the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience before I find a community in which to live them out as a religious sister. 

     Doing all these things is certainly less romantic than making a giant, all-around Resolution, but I think it will be more doable. 

     With that, I ask for prayers - and promise prayers in return - for a happy, healthy, and holy 2019!