Kathleen's Adventures

I have a little food for thought from one of Greg Matte's sermons on "The Need for Companionship" from his Genesis series. We live in a very competitive culture and I think that we end up seeing people as competition to be beat instead of companions to be met...and to be loved and to be cared for. "Well, if you're pretty, well I'm going to be a little bit prettier. If you dress good, then I'm going to dress a little better. If you're smart, I'm a little bit smarter. If you're successful, I'm a little bit more successful. If you're spiritual, I'm a little bit more spiritual. If I'm just a little bit ahead of you and I can compete and win, then we can be friends, but I have to establish I win first because of the competitive culture we live in." People are not competition, they're people and so we can interact with them and come around them and allow them to relate as we're transparent in our lives. Sound fami...

Not much too exciting going on here. I've been debating a bit about not blogging for a while because I'm pretty boring, but realize I like writing, so you can read if you want, or sit back and hope for some more exciting stuff sometime down the road. I watched the temp drop 11 degrees in 4 minutes today in the car. It will drop another 20 degrees by morning. Welcome to Texas. Two drinks can be too much for me to drink. I really do not have a problem with that, but I'm not sure other people really understand when I say "no more." Everyone - young, old, single, married - needs to hear the sacred words "I love you" more than once in a blue moon. Not much is going as planned for me so far this year. Right now some of it may seem like a bad thing, but I know ultimately it may be better things did not go as planned, and some of it just probably really doesn't matter one way or the other. On that note, Lonestar 70.3 has gone from an "A" race...

I recently watched a sermon online about "The Rhythm of Work and Rest." It had some very points and lessons - ones which we could probably all learn a little bit from. If you have 36 minutes, watch it . I assume, though, your first thought is "I don't have 3 minutes to watch some sermon, not to mention 36." Point taken - I'm certainly not here to preach, simply to share. Anyway, if you don't have the time to watch it, here's a passage from the book The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath , by Mark Buchanan which was read during the sermon. I like it. Even if you are not Christian, it can still be very meaningful. One measure for whether or not you are rested enough (besides falling asleep in board meetings) is to ask yourself this: "How much do I care about the things I care about?" When we lose concern for people, both lost and saved, for the bride of Christ, for friendship, for truth, for beauty, for goodness; wh...

Do you ever hear a song and think about a certain time in your life, or feel like you have a current "theme song", or hear a certain song and get filled with hope for the future? Are there some songs for which you think the lyrics seem to be written just for you, and others where you just think "what in the world are they talking about?" or "gees, I hope my life isn't ever that bad"? Anyway, I decided to do a little "past, present, and future" in song post and hope others will as well (consider yourself TAGGED) - I think it will be fun, and if nothing else, maybe a chance to hear an old favorite or learn something new. I may do this from time to time as well and see how they change. I think perceptions of past, present, and future are always changing no matter how even-keeled your life may seem. So, here's mine for the time being (and of course I'm sure it would be a different set of songs if you even asked me tomorrow - there are jus...

I just re-read my post from last night and had a few more thoughts. I don't think I'm saying it would be okay to say mean things or not treat me well if I did like myself better (i.e. I would handle it better, so it would be okay). I don't really think that is the case. Perhaps it just wouldn't be as soul-crushing for me when it did happen, or even more profound, maybe I would not feel some fear-driven need to put up with it. I also know many people have insecurities and I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me or for some "poor Kathleen" attention. I'm just more thinking out loud...as I usually do...and this happens to be a big thought on my mind right now. I also think many of us could hopefully learn a bit by identifying our insecurities and then asking - where did they come from? why do certain things bother us so bad? do they cause us to lash out at others when they really do not deserve it? why do we not trust certain people? do we really want ...

Someone told me that the other day and it was kind of a revelation to me. I have a nasty little secret that isn't always so secret: I don't like myself a good portion of the time, or just kind of like myself, but not necessarily enough to give me the respect I deserve. If someone compliments me, I smile and say "thank you" but usually write it off in my head, thinking something along the lines of "no, I'm really not that way, or I don't really do this or that," or "they don't really know me, so don't know I'm not that great." On the other hand, if someone says something negative or critical to me, I automatically assume it is set in stone. Even if the same person were to both compliment me one day and criticize the next, I only hear the bad; I only internalize the bad. I know this sounds all Debbie Downer-like, but I am a task-oriented problem solver. Identifying a problem is actually somewhat of a relief. I've known foreve...

I want a diet dp about twice a day these days (which is how often I was drinking them before lent). I'm not dying or anything without, but there have been a few times when one sounded realllly good. I often get the "you're not Catholic" reaction to me giving up things for Lent. That is correct, I am not Catholic, I'm Methodist, but I still like to take part. In the past I have basically just done the "self-denial/fasting" part (i.e. given one or many things up), however this year I am trying to bring more meaning to all of it, and really want to go further into it. The idea of using the time to not only give something up but to also work on bettering myself is flashing like a huge billboard in my mind right now. I have decided to better myself by working on body, spirit, and mind during this time. Body I think giving up all the crap food that I gave up along with training for a half ironman pretty much takes care of the body stuff! For this, I'm j...

A high school classmate of mine posted this on her facebook page yesterday and I thought I'd share. I don't know if it is a quote by someone else, or paraphrased, or just thinking aloud, but I like it. Perhaps a little (green) food for thought for your Thursday! "If the grass looks greener on the other side, then it's because you haven't been taking care of your grass.....it's amazing what a little fertilizer and TLC can do to change your perspective. On that note, appreciate what you have, take care of what you have.....you'd be suprised how it will resemble what it looked like in the begining!"