It is 2020!!! Happy New Year!!!!

It is 2020!!!  

In lieu of New Year’s Resolutions, I’m going to self-discovery today.

Let’s take stock in who we are and where we are going!!!

First - who are you?  There are two directions you can go with this question.  The easy and obvious - like “I am Karen White.  I live in Georgetown Texas.  I am 72 years old.  I am a retired professor.  I am (still - but not for long) married 43 years to Connie.  I have two grown children - Steve and Becky.  I have five fantastic grandchildren, Abby, Ada, Asher, Genesis, and Leah.  I play the tuba.”  Okay - but that really isn’t enough!!  

WHO are you - down deep?  Are you a lover, a fighter, a Christian, a Jew, a Republican, a Democrat, an independent, what REALLY drives you?  

Then you can go to WHO do you want to be?  Our lives have three times - the past - who you were; the present - who are you now - and (maybe the toughest - and least thought about) who do you want to be?

Let’s think about that on this first day of 2020!!!

Who do you want to be?  Really - who do YOU want to become?  A nobody?  A memorable person?  A person who is known by her deep faith, her helping others, a friend that can be counted on in times of need?  (Like AP - whose phone number I KNOW by heart in case I ‘run off the rails’ again!!!)

I can make people happy in one of two ways!!  For some people - I can make them happy when I walk into a room.  My smile and my aura can brighten their day.  “Hey, Karen is here - it will all work out great”!!!.  The other way I can make people happy?  When I leave the room!!  “About time that Pollyanna is gone.  I hate her ‘better-than-you’ attitude.  I hate the way she thinks she is so important and snotty!!”   (By-the-way, my goal is the first way - but, unfortunately, I can’t be all things to all people!!!)

Thinking ahead - write your own obituary today.  Will it be like this:  

1 - Karen White, was born in 1947, she lived, and she died - a nobody.<period>. 
2- Or like this:  Karen White was an educator, she taught at <places>, and was an inspiration to her students.  She retired in 2016 and wasn’t seen or heard of after that. 
3- Or like this:  Karen White died yesterday.  She was active in the community up to her last illness.  Her smile was a fixture in Georgetown.  She seemingly knew everybody.  Everybody loved her - but more importantly, Karen knew everybody.  She was a healer - a bridge between political sides, and between blacks, whites, Hispanics, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and all people.  She served meals for years at the local homeless shelter.  She gave rides to seniors without cars and was sought after for her insights and ability to ‘love the unlovable’. She also spent an hour a day praying for the community.  (Notice that my early days aren’t even mentioned!!)  Petitions already have started to name her “Saint Karen of Georgetown”!!

YOU control your life!!  You can write your own obituary.  

I am not going quietly into the dark of my senior years.  I have commented about Micah 6:8 before, but I will again.  “And what does God expect of you?  But, to love justice, show mercy and walk humbly with God”.  There is still a lot of injustice in the world - and no, I’m can’t possibly change that, but I must try in my corner of the world.  Showing mercy - I must do that.  And walk humbly with God - what has happened to me has caused me to reflect on life - and that has humbled me.

And, maybe even more than WHO you are; or WHO you will be; is WHY - what drives you deep inside your heart?  WHY do I want to promote justice? WHY do I want to show mercy?  WHY do I want to walk humbly with God?  I have been shaped and molded for this - time to let my light shine - and live in “The FORCE” (however you view it!!)

Blessing upon all of you as we start 2020, as we start the decade of the 2020s (will they be like the “Roaring Twenties” of a century ago?).  

HUGS!!

Karen