A Coming Out

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It's that January time of year when newly sneakered feet are thumping treadmill ribbons, blenders are whirring with deliciously vile green smoothies, and closets are being purged of their dust-covered inhabitants of the past year. I drove by Goodwill on both Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend and the line to donate had spilled out onto the road causing a major traffic jam. The rush to clear one's life of aged objects so fierce that people were willing to wait in major traffic on a precious weekend day.

Don't get me wrong. We have several stuffed-to-the-gills bags clogging up space in our second bedroom. I really love gathering things for Goodwill in an effort to make our lives more pure, minimal, efficient. It feels like a mecca to me, especially in post-holiday season hangover days of early January. I feel like I am exfoliating the layers of encumbering objects and materialism. In many ways, material goods feel like a barrier to my true self. Like superficial icons distorting our true worth. This time of year is when people try to dig deeper to get to their true spirit. In many ways, it is the most wonderful time of the year because we are trying especially hard to get to the roots of ourselves.  I mean look at me: I am blogging again after a multi-year hiatus.

At church this past weekend, the theme of the sermon was about coming out. It was in reference to 12-year-old Jesus being found by his parents in the temple, or "his Father's house." At age 12, Jesus had begun to sense who he really was. In other ways and perhaps more commonly referred to as a "coming out," people realize and share their sexual orientation. But the phrase, "coming out," for me, is clearing away the detritus and becoming the person you have always been.

For my 2015 coming out, I want to find my joyful, go-with-the-flow self. I want to celebrate the love I have in my life - incredible friends and family. I want to write more (ahem, blog posts) and I want to sing more. Singing lifts my soul and makes me feel more like myself than anything else. I hope you, dear friends, can have your own 2015 coming out and have the time to embrace the parts of yourselves that make your hearts sing!