WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS

So begins a month of contemplation, discernment, prayer.   So begins a month in which I will ask myself some hard questions and, hopefully, find some answers. So begins a month in which I earnestly ask, seek and knock.   So begins a month in which I begin to put the past behind me, and work diligently to build a future.    So begins a month in which I focus on being truly present, being an active participant in my own life.  

It has been a long time coming.   I have often said for the last several years that I am living in my own personal Purgatory.   Purgatory, by definition, means that you are going to eventually make it to the "Promised Land", you just have to endure a little purification first.   It seems I've been living in this "state" for the last four or five years.   Living, in the hope, of reaching my own personal Promised land.   

Here's my confession:   A month ago, I wasn't open to many of the things to which I find myself open today.   Mending fences, letting go of stress, anxiety, bitterness, fear.   I've lived with it all for far too long.   Why September? There's really no reason, other than it has 30 days and it came at the exact moment I needed to stop and take a breather, to evaluate areas of my life.   So, September, it's you and me.   We may not conquer everything in your 30 days, but we are going to make a good start.   Through prayer, meditation, journaling, and finding ways to change things in my life, I am hopeful that when September ends, that I will have more peace, more joy, more life in me than I do at this moment.    In a sense, I am hopeful that when September ends, I will, indeed, be awakened.