It is so truly good to be home. Just today, as I was driving home from church–on the back roads that wind through acres of pastured farm land,some still green in the mildness of a Georgia winter, cradled by rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge and dotted with leafless copses of tree–I cannot help but feel an overwhelming love for my Home. Each day it is something different that reminds me of how blessed I am. My family–immediate and extended–my friends, the beauty of the land itself…I am constantly amazed by how many things there are to be grateful for. And yet, so often , I go through weeks at a time when all I can think of are the bad things that happen to me. Especially with today’s sermon, I’m pretty sure there was a special message in there for me: living for Christ is not simply taking 5 minutes a day to read a Bible verse or have a quick devotion; it is living in total self-denial–the type of denial that attests all daily goodness, all gifts and talents not to myself, but to God and living each moment in order to be more Christ-like and aligned with his will. haha This calls to mind something unexpected…. Dante’s Purgatorio. It is definitely a good read and, although he was Catholic, Dante certainly knew what he was talking about when it came to being aligned with God’s will. Anywho, this is what I’ve been thinking about today. Yes, Christmas was good, but, all in all, today was much better.