It's been long. . .too long

Greetings friends and family!  Peace of Christ be with You!  

I have been away from this blog for too long.  Honestly, I wasn't sure if I had deactivated it.  

I didn't and I'm glad.  

Life is full of ups and downs and the past couple of years have been difficult.  I found myself drifting away from the Church for no good reason.  There was always a reason to not go to Mass or to pray or to focus on "material" things.  No good excuse, simply reasons.  

But, recently, I had a "life event" that I feel helped me course correct.  I left my job.  Yes, it was a really really good job in terms of money and benefits, but the stress and the pressure had become too much.  I was no longer happy and that lack of happiness was impacting my family, my health, and had certainly impacted my relationship with God.  So, I decided to make a change.  I left, on my own, at the end of June to figure out what to do next.  

I wanted to spend time over the summer and early fall with my family, free of stress and distraction.  I got to do that, and I truly valued that time and all of the little things from going to the pool, doing things with my daughter and son, getting them off to the first day of school, and running them to various activities.  I wanted to look at the possibility of starting my own business, buying a business, or starting a franchise.  I looked into all three and though none worked out, I valued the opportunity.  I wanted to figure out what I really wanted out of my life in order to search for a career that fit me best.  But, most importantly, I wanted to reconnect with my faith and renew my relationship with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  And, I feel I've come a long way in the last few months.  I've found my way back to the path, and now I need to stay on it.   

Why am I here?  I like writing, I enjoy connecting with others and I want to share -- thoughts on Faith, personal experiences, and opinions.  Living Catholic Daily, the title of this blog, is not easy in today's world, and this provides an outlet to share and discuss the journey we are all on in our own way.  

So, I am back, and my goal is to commit to posting regularly.  I'm not sure if that will be once a week, multiple times a week, once a month, or what.  I'll let the Holy Spirit help guide me.  But, if you enjoy my blog or have topics you'd like to discuss, please shoot me a comment or e-mail!  I want to know that I'm reaching some of you!!  

Have a great day and week.  God Bless All of You!  

Catching up, checking-in, and the power of prayer

It's been a hectic couple of weeks to start the year.  First there was the family vacation to Michigan, then we all came down with the flu, I was in Vegas last week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and work has been just crazy.  So, therein lies the reason why I haven't had time to blog lately -- well, that and the fact that I simply didn't have anything specific to blog about. 

During these crazy weeks, I went through a short stint where I didn't get to go to morning Mass as much as I'd like and where I fell out of the prayer routine I adopted last fall.  I can honestly say that a part of me felt empty -- like something was missing every day.  At first I didn't realize why, I was getting stressed out, angry and upset over silly things with the family, and then I caught myself.  I realized that I had inadvertently and unintentionally started distancing myself from God for no good reason.  Yes, I had reasons, but there was no excuse.  One can always make time to pray.  Prayer can be something as simple as the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner) or lying in bed and having a conversation with God.  Ask yourself, what is preventing me from taking 15-30 minutes a day to spend time with God?  What is more important than this??  Really? 

So, I got my act together. Last Saturday, upon returning from Vegas, I went to Confession, I restarted my daily prayer routine (Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours along with other less formal praying), and have made it back to daily Mass a couple of times (work is still hectic keeping me from going every day).  How do I feel?  MUCH better.  I feel comforted, more relaxed, I don't get as upset and stressed out as easy at work or home, and simply feel like I'm a better person.  Prayer will do that for you.  If you ask for God's help, God's love, God's direction in your life, he will be there.  God always hears our prayers.  Sometimes, He doesn't answer with what we want, but always hears our prayers.

Remember, if you feel lonely, down, or upset, you always have someone to listen.  Just pray. 

God Bless you all. 

A day outside. . . A day of spiritual rest

Who would know that a day full of hard work outdoors could be so refreshing?

I am a corporate "suit."  Okay, so I don't wear a suit every day (in fact not really ever), but I work at a Fortune 500 company and am part of middle/upper-middle management.  I am in a sales/marketing job responsible for managing some of our largest customer accounts.  I have a good job and I work with a lot of great people, but at times I do wonder if this is what I was supposed to do?  Should I have done more with my life?  I believe I have done well for my career, for my family, we live in a nice home, and we don't have to worry about many things that those less fortunate have to worry about every day -- for that I feel truly blessed.  But, the job certainly comes with its stresses.  For example, I seem to never be truly "off" work.  There are the late night and weekend phone calls, the constant internal/external e-mails making my phone vibrate at all hours, and the feeling of failure at times for things that often we don't control and that are really trivial when put next to many of the world's problems.

So, on days like today, I have to be thankful.  One of the good things that BrightPoint does is it has a "Week of Caring" every year where employees volunteer at a local non-profit organization for an entire week and do all sorts of activities "free of charge" to simply help the organization.  This year I'm part of the committee responsible for the Week of Caring and we picked a place called Jameson Camp which provides services for under-privileged, poor, and at-risk youth year-round.  It has the traditional "camp" atmosphere, but also has buildings where it has indoor activities.

My "team" each day is responsible for essentially taking this acre or so area of woods, clearing out a space for a 650 foot nature trail, removing debris and invasive plant species (which I can tell you is the hardest part), defining the trail, laying mulch, and planting native species to provide a learning experience for the kids.  Today was the first full day and I LOVED it.  Not only did I love it because I was doing something great for the community, but it provided my a bit of "spiritual rest."  Yes, the work was physical and tiring, but mentally and spiritually, I felt more refreshed and less tired than usual after a day of normal work.  I was able to breathe in the fresh air, and felt fortunate to be working with my hands surrounded by God's beauty.  Somehow, this was fuel for my soul, and I can't wait to get back at it tomorrow.  I did have to run to the office for about an hour and checked e-mail once or twice on my phone, but most of the time I was immersed in the work at hand.  I couldn't help but wonder, if I did something like this every day, would it make me a better person?  Would it please God more?  If I didn't have to answer the late phone calls, look at e-mails all the time, and be stressed over work even after work was "over", would I be a better Dad, Husband, and, most importantly, follower of Christ?  I think I know the answer to that question, but I'm just not sure how to make it a reality. . . that's probably for another post.

God Bless. . .