Contentment

I’m slowly recovering from the awful migraine over the weekend.

These nasty little things are inherited and my mother used to get the optical migraines. In her case, she’d sense one coming on…..and her eyesight would vanish….then she would begin to see halfs of everything….and slowly things would return to normal. Rarely she had pain with hers…but they could be bad regardless.

I spoke with her yesterday.

We compared notes on how these migraines affected us. She described my feelings to a tee….down to the feeling of being “washed out” the day after.

The one good thing about all this is that my mood has drastically improved. I’m not depressed, but rather in a very pleasant mental state. I’m back to counting my blessings and enjoying my time alone.

I’m very thankful to have my friends – people who actually care about how things are going. They worry about me when I’m “down” or not feeling well.

What a comfort!

Onto other things:

Monday was an important anniversary that I didn’t really focus on because of my headache. It was what I refer to as my spiritual birthday.

Thirty-four years ago that day, I was converted in the Baptist church I had started to attend back then. It was a big deal for me. I started on an adventure that day that really hasn’t stopped.

I left that church two years later and became a member of the Church of God. In 1978, I moved to the Washington, DC area to seek my fortune working in the federal government, and to work at a Church of God in Alexandria, VA. That’s where I met Lovey. All my children were baptized in that denomination. Lovey and I worked in a host of churches in this area….serving in another Church of God in Bailey’s Crossroads; then became youth pastors in Forestville, Maryland; pastured another church in Arlington, VA; Mt. Vernon, VA, then we jumped denominations and became United Methodists. She stayed within that denomination, and due to the awful separation and divorce, I’m happily involved in MCC NoVA!

Looking back I see so many points where I could have changed the course of my life. I could have gone into ministry and become a Church of God minister. My ex and I had a very successful children’s ministry and were highly sought after within the denomination.

I wrote curriculum for the Church of God Publishing House and was published worldwide. I published articles of an inspirational nature for the various magazines published there too.

It was a good life.

But I wasn’t too authentic. Had I been authentic, I would have been ostracized and thrown out on my ear.

Now, I’m in a much better place. I’m happy. I’m content. I’ve traveled so far…but yet there is a long way to go.

I still have goals in my life. The most important one at the moment is to be excellent partner material for some lucky guy. I want to prove to myself that I’m monogamous….and that I can be faithful.

Another important goal that I have is to live happily ever after…content in my own skin.