Something’s Coming

Yesterday, Greg and I took a walk around the neighborhood.  We decided that it was high time we shake off our slovenly holiday ways and fit some exercise into the last day of the year.  And, as we are wont to do on these kid-free jaunts, we got to talking.  A lot.  About all manner of things.

Naturally, it being the end of one year and the beginning of another, our conversation took an unusual turn.  Usually these walks find us hashing out schedules, discussing family current events, and that sort of thing.  On this walk, however, we dug a little deeper.  What were our dreams and goals for 2019?  What went well in 2018?  Are there areas that we need some change?  What are we looking forward to?

And as we talked, I shared with him something that has been on my heart lately.  Not a plan, really.  Not even a fully formed idea.  No, this is more like a feeling; a niggling sense that I can’t even name.

“I don’t know, honey,” I said.  “I just feel like something’s coming.  2019 is going to hold something new and different and exciting.  I just don’t know what it is yet.”

Could be…Who knows?

Could be, who knows? There’s something due any day
I would know right away soon as it shows
It may come cannon balling down through the sky
Gleam in its eye, bright as a rose

Who knows? It’s only just out of reach
Down the block on a beach under a tree
I got a feeling there’s a miracle due
Gonna come true, coming to me

Could it be? Yes, it could
Something’s coming, something good if I can wait
Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is
But it is gonna be great

These lyrics from “Something’s Coming” in the musical West Side Story pretty much sum up how I’m feeling.  And, honestly, I have no idea why I feel this way.  That’s the funniest part of this whole thing!!

Maybe it’s because the last couple of years have brought their own newness and opportunity?  In 2017, I started this blog and went back to work as a preschool music teacher.  In 2018, I became a regular blog contributor for Blessed is She and was given the opportunity to be a writer for their Prayer Pledge.

Perhaps it’s that I’m growing in my prayer life and am more readily seeing the blessings and challenges God throws my way?  A priest recently told me in Confession (and I’m totally paraphrasing) that the closer you draw to God, the more able you are to see His will and the more you want to know that will in your life.  Amen to that!

So, maybe that “something” won’t come like a cannon ball out of the sky.  Maybe it won’t be an earth-changing miracle.  But maybe just maybe, if I keep on praying and seeking that Will, I will know it right away, as soon as it shows.

Words of the Year

Do you pick a word of the year?  Or possibly a patron saint to learn more about or pray with?  I usually don’t.  I am, however, a sucker for any kind of quiz or random answer generator.

Enter Jen Fulwiler and her Saint Name Generator and Word of the Year Generator and the Word of the Year quiz from Dayspring.  Go ahead and take a look.  Choose your own word and saint…I’ll wait.

Anyway, in light of this “something’s coming” feeling I’ve been having, I thought the results that I got were pretty darn interesting.

Honest to goodness, the first word that came up for me was Escape.  According to the first definition on dictionary.com, to escape is “to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or regain liberty.”  Soooo…..

What needs to escape from me?  What do I need to escape from?  Where should I escape to?  How do I let go of what is confining or restraining this something?  Very intriguing, no?

This next word from Dayspring wasn’t quite as random.  On this website, you answer questions about your faith life in a quiz.  My answers led to the word Hope…”the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.”

OK! So, this escape…this something…this desire that I can’t even name.  It’s OK to hope in it!  It’s OK to reach for it, trust in it, trust in God, and trust in myself.  To try and know that, even in the trying and possibly in the failing, things will turn out for the best.

Got it.

And then a Saint

Then it was time to give that Saint generator a try.  Admittedly, there were a few doozies that I had never heard of before.  Some obscure Blesseds from the Middle Ages that were the patrons of cheesemakers or something.  We’ll just pretend those didn’t happen.

But then, I clicked one more time.  And this is who came up.

Mother?  Check.  Physician?  Well, only if I qualify as Dr. Mom (which is what Greg calls me when the kids get sick).  Unborn children?  Yep, I’ve had several of those.

What this doesn’t say about this amazing 20th century saint, though, is what I find most intriguing about her.  St. Gianna was a working mother.  She was also born right around the same time as both of my grandmothers, which I just think is so cool.  It’s easy to imagine what her life would’ve been like, you know?

But what does it all mean?

Escape…  Hope…  St. Gianna…  SOMETHING.

Truthfully, friends?  I have no idea.  I don’t know what something might be coming in 2019.  Maybe it will be big, maybe not.  Maybe it’ll have to do with my work life, maybe not.  It could mean anything, couldn’t it?

Now, do I have a sneaking suspicion of what I would like it to be?  You betcha, baby.  And if it could be what I think it might be?  Well, that would be pretty freaking awesome, indeed.

And, what about you?  Do you have a word of the year?  A saint?  What are your hopes and dreams for 2019?  Whatever they are, sweet friend, I pray nothing but the best for you and yours.  Here’s to a great year!

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