Hi. This has become my only blog again. I resigned from Deliberate Engagement a week ago. I hope you’ll continue to support Matt in his apostolate. I’m so proud to have worked with him in it, and I still maintain that his essay, “How to Debate,” is one of the best around on engaging the culture in honest discussion while avoiding alienating people who operate out of a different paradigm with Bible-thumping they find ridiculous and too alien to take seriously. Matt’s the best of men, the best of friends, and I wish him and his newly-engaged intended all possible happiness.

I’m doing well. Busy.  I’ve been managing a small store since late January. Business is slow over the summer, but it’s allowed me some time to work on DE and to write and to study. A friend has been urging me for several months to do more writing on the experience of having been married to a homosexual; I’m giving that one some serious consideration right now.

I have a lot of thoughts about political and social realities, but I don’t want to blog about them here – I need a place where I can be more cheerful and upbeat; the battle with the world becomes consuming at times, and we all need a respite. This blog must be mine, please.

I bought my sewing machine last week, and if I’m really smart and get my housework done before my Tylenol PM kicks in and makes me very drowsy this evening, I’m going to work on a kitchen curtain or two.

It’s been a Purgatorial couple of weeks, really. I’ve faced a series of disappointments and setbacks, and very unpleasantly have had to face some truths about myself that I’ve done a pretty darn good job of hiding from for a while. It’s necessary I should face these self-deceptions and deal with them, but it’s very unpleasant.

Yet at the same time, it’s a season of renewal and new beginnings. The hot summer weather drained me of energy – physical and mental – and now that cooler weather has returned, I’m feeling energized and highly motivated to do my Fall Cleaning (desperately needed!) and to renew my spiritual life.

I’ve been appointed Lay Leader of a new Benedictine Oblate group in our area and will be formally received as an oblate novice in either October or November. Discovering the disciplines of praying the Divine Office and the Rule of Benedict is a great help becoming anchored and better balanced. Balance – something I always have a hard time maintaining. Do others find it such a fragile thing to achieve?

And the lovely thing about working at the store is that it is also a ministry, an apostolate. People who wouldn’t darken the door of a Church or a church office will come into this store and strike up conversations. I’ve had some wonderful experiences sharing the Faith with men and women – clearing up misconceptions, showing the biblical foundations for a lot of our beliefs, teaching a couple of people to pray the rosary, etc. The days when this happens make the drudgery of bookkeeping and inventory maintenance worthwhile, believe me!

So – that’s it from here. I’m going to go fix a cup of tea (Earl Grey) and finish the kitchen for the evening, then tidy my bookshelves. I’m about overdue adding another 3′ shelving unit to the ones already on hand.

Thanks, Sinead, for the email today – please follow up as soon as possible. The rest of you, I’ll be visiting others’ blogs more regularly now, I believe, so I’ll see you at your place soon!

God bless you!