Back to the Grind

New Year's Resolutions have kicked in, and the gym is more crowded than I have ever seen it before. Over the weekend at LL Bean, we saw long lines of people returning and exchanging gifts they received from Christmas so that their shopping chore could be done before they returned to work and regular routines. The news is full of coverage of the national presidential campaign as well as the Philadelphia mayoral inauguration, and our church is starting the process of nominating ordained officers to their positions; in my communities, I feel a certain welcome pressure to get back down to business. Our downstairs neighbor, a student at a local university, returned from her holiday vacaction this weekend, and we have heard lots of noise from her apartment as she has been catching up with her friends and re-settling into her place. Everyone we caught up with today had a pretty good holiday but is glad to get back to normal life. Personally, I am thrilled to be starting my new role at my new employer tomorrow - and I am looking forward to settling into a routine at work.

In light of all that is going on with a new year and return to normal, busy life, I'm thankful that our church partook communion this morning. Although we all know the adage "Better to give than to recieve", I really experienced that it is more blessed to receive than to give. In a women's Bible study on Proverbs, our leader said earlier this year, (paraphrasing) "As Christians, our spiritual work is to believe the truth of the Scriptures and the Gospel message". In the new year as we all go back to the grind, the "to-do" list never ends, and to move forward and solve problems (and to satiate my natural Type-A personality tendencies!) I will feel compelled to work harder every day - to do more, give more deeply, and take better action. Good works are usually praiseworthy endeavors, but my real work - day in and day out - is to simply rest in belief.