It is more
than three months since I wrote my last blog-post. It’s almost unbelievable
that time has run so fast. We have celebrated Christmas and have started on a
New Year, soon entering February and that means that we are not so far away
from Lent this year. Ash Wednesday is on February 18. Do I have any excuses for
letting you down by not writing?
No, no
others than that I have had a lot to do with job-related things and that in December I have never done more than I have to do in the last years.
It's very dark at my place in December and I always feel that I have little
energy in this dark period. Since I have no children left in my nest, I feel
that I can afford to use some time at myself, really take care of myself in the
advent time (and focus on God of course). I think it’s important that all
persons are aware of taking some breaks in life. It can be breaks from social
media, from stressful situations or people and more. It can be just to do something else than we
usually do. To take a break doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to rest, just
to shift focus. Every person has to find out for her- or himself what type of break she or he needs. It is important to take care of oneself. The commandment “Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself” (Mk 12:31) points to the point that the one who cannot love oneself,
will have problems loving others, too. The next sentence in Mark is “There
is no other commandment greater than these”. And what was the first great commandment? It
was about loving God. Stress that lasts some time might rob us from being able
to love ourselves the way we are and that again might "take away" the love for others. Therefore, it might be good for people at every age to try to find
their own ways of taking care of themselves. So, if you feel stressed, please try
to find some way to “de-stress” yourself so that you might be able to love
yourself, God and others.
To new readers: This is not an ordinary blog, where you start
to read at the last input. The structure is more like a book. One starts to
read at the first input and then continues to read at the next and so on. I have
(some time ago now), worked in school with young people who had different kind
of problems, so I'm very well aware of all the uncertainty that might be found
among those who are the aim-group for my writings: young people who perhaps doubt or
have fallen away from the catholic faith (and older people too). In these days
where the secular society in many parts of the Western World tells the youth
that faith is something only for dummies, the young need some place to start to
find answers to the most common doubt's. There are many good blogs (and bad
too) written in the English/American language. My writings are in line with the
Magisterium and the Pope. My hope is that people who read here might think
about why they doubt and think about if their doubts are reasonable. I hope
that after reading my inputs, you will try to search out books that also are in
line with the teaching of the Magisterium and the Pope and slowly find your way
back to God and his Church again. That's why it's crucial that you start at the
first blog-post from 2012 and work yourself one step at the time through the
posts, one by one. To be able to benefit from this blog you have to participate
actively by doing the thinking around the questions discussed to be able to
eventually chose to say yes to God again. (I will not have time to write regularly, so please show patience while
you wait for the next blog-post. Look back now and then).
To old readers still following: In the “About Me” section the
following sentence has fallen out. “I will not
have time to write regularly, so please show patience while you wait for the
next blog-post. Look back now and then”. I have now added that sentence at the bottom
of blogpost # 1 from 2012. For now I only want to remind you about that this
blog is to be read from the first blog-post and not from the last. This is a
blog that invites you to participate in your own Christian life by doing a great
deal of personal thinking to regain Christian/Catholic life by thinking it all
over again. By the way, are there anybody here whom have read: “Answering
the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins' Case Against God” by Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker?
If not, give it a try!
I’m very busy for the time being, so you might still have to wait for the
next blog-post. Hope that is OK for you and that you look into this blog now
and then to see if it has grown. Don't forget to tell about the blog to friends you think might benefit from it.
See you sooner or later!
