How great thou art

2010 I welcome with wide open arms!

I have very strange reaction to the New Year. It's change. And I really don't like change, of any sort. I get used to my rut and like to stay comfortable, wallowing in it's sameness. I cried every time a new term started in college (that's a lot of crying! Undergraduate and graduate years - the tears just flowed)

Why? Well, I'd get used to the schedule. I learned to like the new schedule - liked when I could squeeze my runs in, study, see friends, go hiking, have an easier day and then boom, right when I absolutely fell in love with the new routine, it was done...and the next one was upon me and darn it, it was different.

So, I usually find that Jan 1st is my least favorite day of the year. I am sad that the year I have worn like a comfortable blanket is now done. I worked so hard to do all the details of the year - b-days, holidays, vacations, - ahh the glory of a well-oiled, smoothly flowing, familiar system - and now, it's all done and I Start over????

But, this year I am actually finding I am noticing amidst my typical melancholy woes of a new year that I am excited. 2009 was so full of conversations with hurting people - economically, spiritually, emotionally, and bodily health - and what became familiar in 2009 was comments about the sad state of affairs with the economy, the housing market, the health of our nation, our government, the bleak future....

And well into the year, I did get tired of it because I like to smile more then these conversations ever allowed me to do, but unfortunately, I more often then I care to admit, fell into the negativity myself. It became the 2009 thing to do.

This year, 2010, despite the fact that probably none of these bleak conversations have been concluded in anyway, I plan to try to turn the tide, one conversation at a time. I hope to talk more about the beauty of humanity, God's creation (www.coryjoneillphotography.com), and the good to behold in each and every day.

Yes - this year I resolve to focus on How Great He Is.

How Great Thou Art (as performed by my brother David Klinkenberg and I in Molina, IL for a radio station listener appreciation concert we put on for their community):