{"id":802627,"date":"2019-12-27T14:07:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T21:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=376561"},"modified":"2019-12-27T14:07:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T21:07:45","slug":"walking-our-faith-good-c-words-for-the-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/walking-our-faith-good-c-words-for-the-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking Our Faith: Good C-words for the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson<\/strong>
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

I make my bed first thing in the morning. I write out broad goals in January, and do a year in review around this last week of December. Among my daily goals is one called \u201cread write walk 30\u201d which is exactly at it as it sounds: do each of those things for 30 minutes a day at a minimum. Bonus points if I do it for an hour.<\/p>\n

In that vein, I\u2019ve been reading more books about faith, both in the broader sense and specifically reading my Bible and listening to it read to me on the Dwell app. I\u2019ve discovered with this broader attention to matters of faith an interesting contrast: on the one hand I have fallen deeply in love with my own Catholic faith and in the wisdom and beauty of the Bible; on the other hand I have become more respectful of people of differing faith traditions, especially when I see in them the same love for God that I feel in my own heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.\u201d 1 Kings 4:29.<\/p>\n

Mom quoted this verse to me as I drove her to a doctor\u2019s appointment near her home in Fort Lauderdale. It was Christmas Eve and we were talking about what we\u2019d learned over the past year. Mom\u2019s assertion was these attributes were the key to a rich life. I asked, \u201cIs it too late for me to incorporate them into my life?\u201d<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s possible for a ninety two year old woman to snort with derision, she did and said, \u201cIt\u2019s not to late for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contemplation<\/h4>\n

Although Mom has a TV in every room of her two bedroom apartment, they\u2019re rarely on. Instead, she listens to music, and her daily time of prayer and Bible study is done in silence. The better to hear God speak. As Mom describes this time: \u201cPrecious moments alone with God. Listening as God speaks to me, expressing my love to him in meditation.\u201d<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve learned this week is that making space for silence, making time for prayer, allows us to hear God speak to us, to praise God, to sit in God\u2018s presence and soak in his love for us.<\/p>\n

Compassion<\/h4>\n

As I study God\u2019s Holy Scriptures, as I pray, as I read widely on faith, I understand God is so much greater than my understanding . The vastness of this One we call God gives me a new compassion for all who share this world, and my heart becomes more open to the thought, \u201cwe are all just walking each other home.\u201d<\/p>\n

This acknowledgment of my smallness in light of God\u2018s greatness, allows me to see the world with new compassion and civility.<\/p>\n

Choice<\/h4>\n

As I walked out to the living room on Christmas morning Mom was sitting on the couch and her first words to me were, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great day!\u201d To be honest I didn\u2019t share her enthusiasm. I\u2019d spent a nearly sleepless night tossing and turning on the twin bed in her guestroom, and had an entire Christmas dinner to cook that day, in addition to driving to Boca to visit my sister in law in the hospital. To my sleep-deprived mind, the day looked more like a challenge.<\/p>\n

But Mom continued her enthusiastic declaration as I got to work. Sure enough by the end of the evening after our guests had left and I put up my feet and enjoyed a glass of wine I had to agree, it was a great day.<\/p>\n

I was grateful for the time I spent with my sister-in-law, the phone conversation with my brother, the chance to cook for and thank the neighbors who make my Mom\u2019s life of independence possible.<\/p>\n

Mom\u2019s wisdom demonstrates that we have an important choice to make, daily. How we see our circumstances is our choice, how we face challenges is our choice, and when we choose optimism and grace we are more likely to see an outcome that reflects our positive attitude.<\/p>\n

In the past, my reaction to inconvenience and disappointment has been more like Eeyore\u2019s. But I see the wisdom in Mom\u2019s actions. A positive attitude empowers us.<\/p>\n

As I look towards the new year, the start of another decade, the only goal I want to pursue is to become a better citizen of this earth, to become a better child of God, to do a better job of seeing my neighbors and my friends and the strangers I meet as fellow children of God.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson\u2019s column \u201cWalking our Faith\u201d publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Anderson is the author of 10 novels and nonfiction books on faith. She has lived in Breckenridge since 2016. Contact her at suzanne@suzanneelizabeths.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson I make my bed first thing in the morning. I write out broad goals in January, and do a year in review around this last week of December. Among my daily goals is one called \u201cread write walk 30\u201d which is exactly at it as it sounds: do each of those things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-802627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-29 18:47:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}