Friends and Faith and Education...Oh MY!

(whisper) Dream with me…

I have a dream to share with you
One that I know will be true
It’s a story developing as you’ll see
The story of love and you and me

It begins with a smile and a sweet soft laugh
And continues with sharing of our days passed
Learning who you and I will be
Because a friendship has begun for all to see

(chorus)
Yea, I wish you could see inside my heart
Cuz, there that’s where our story starts,
Here where our love will never end
That’s where we live my friend

When I think of all life’s possibilities
I see hope even more because you’re with me
The tears may come and freely fall
But with you in my life I will stand tall

Though time will move us apart and so
Our journeys will sometimes seem so slow
But along the river of dreams we meet
And there rediscover our love so sweet

(chorus)
Yea, I wish you could see inside my heart
Cuz there, that’s where our story starts,
Here where our love will never end
That’s where we live my friend
That’s where we live my friend
Always until the end…

© Sue Wilson - March, 2006

Believe it or not that was penned by me.  I like it.  It may not be the best, but I like it :P  Since today’s post is about friendship I felt it needed to be reposted for you all.  

There is just something to be said for a good friend.  You know the kind I mean… The one you can spend hours laughing about nothing with.  And the one who will remind you of that years later, sending you both into gales of laughter again while people look on wondering what cocktail drug you’re both on :P  

It’s easy for me to get caught up in the tide of my life.  As the current sweeps me away to the seas of loneliness, it also sweeps away the knowledge that I have friends around me.  It sees me alone, keeps me alone and susceptible and takes me out to uncharted waters where sometimes I float listlessly, alone and afraid.  

However, there is always a change in current that brings me back to re-center, to re-ground myself.  And usually waiting on the shores to help bring me back onto land of life are my friends.  There are quite a few prominent faces, voices, names I see when I get there.   Sometimes a simple voice can open the locked doors of my heart again and make that little light I have, grow into a big light.  It’s amazing to me just how one word, sentiment or sentence can have such a powerful impact on a person.  I try to live by this everyday.  I fail sometimes, but the important thing is I always have people there to remind me.  

Family is very important, friends are just as important.  This morning right now, I’m thankful for the kindness of my friends.  Without those who have helped me stand for the past few years (as tiresome as it may get sometimes), I would still be crawling around in a worse spot than I can conceive of.  

No matter how bleak my life may seem to me at times as I go through this vortex of life change…  I know in the deepest regions of my heart where that little pinprick of light that just wont go away resides… that I have friends waiting for me on the shoreline of life, ready to help me stand again and for that, I’m grateful.

*****
Pray for me dear readers of my drudgery that I survive the next three VERY tight financial months.  Barring any unknown obstacles or emergencies, I’ll be financially free of all credit card debt, and free of one of two major medical bills that have been plaguing me.  I’ll still have the other but in August I’ll have the means to pay that off If I can just make it three more months.

*chants* I think I can, I think I can :P

*****
So a few posts ago I eluded to the fact that I had done something or had experienced something that I wasn’t quite ready to divulge yet.  I think I’m ready to now.  A few years ago someone told me about the Universal Life Church and how they were an ordained minister there.  I went to the site looked at it and thought “nice” and that was that.  

In my recent searching for information on education in holistic therapy and even holistic theology this website came up again.  For a few seconds I thought how cool to be ordained in a universal non-denominational organization that promotes healthy awareness of the uniqueness of religious choice and practice.  So I decided I would follow their procedure and become ordained.  

Unlike some people who may look at this and think “What a crock” Or others who do it just to have some perverse power play in their life, my choosing to do this was simply to provide a deeper intent to learn and desire of practice of  religion in my life.  I’m a spiritual person.  I’m just non-denominational.  I was a practicing Catholic as I grew up, but now I lean more towards Eastern practices, and even Wicca.  But I blend spiritual practices and that makes me “Ecclectic” as I’m called in some circles.

I am certified now to marry folks and in checking with Illinois state and county rulings, due to the separation of church and state, I have discovered I can do this legally and it is binding.

Will I ever do this?  I might for the right people.  By “right” I mean, friends, or people who have sought to utilize the many tools available to prospective couples to be in a state of readiness about marriage and what it entails.

More likely than not however, this ordination will simply provide me a means for myself personally to develop a deeper relationship with my faith and religion in general.  

To those few who knew about this before this blog did ;) I thank you for your support in understanding about this.  It means a LOT to me that the four folks who were told were open, understanding, and supportive.  

Opinions are welcome as usual on anything I write.  Be nice in presentation of them, especially if they’re in disagreement.  I post my things here so you CAN speak about them *smile*.

*****
On the school front, it will be a while before I can afford to enter the school I want and pursue the degree I want.  Because the school is one in holistic therapies there aren’t many scholarships available (as far as I’ve seen).  At one point I was going to consider the American Institute of Holistic Theology.  I really like their presentation, programs, and certifications.  Not to mention their admission counselor is wonderful.  However I think in holistic remedies I would prefer a more clinical approach so (Thanks Roze!) I’ve investigated and decided that when I do decide to enter school again it will be at Clayton College in Ohio.  Their programs are comprehensive and I know at least one person who has gone through some of it.  I’ll keep looking into ways to afford it, but for now it’s nice to at least know what I’ll be doing.

*****
WELL WISHES

Today I wish for all of you to know that you are someone’s friend.  That you are so very special to that someone and that this someone, this friend is thinking of you and loving you.  May you feel the warmth of the love and support of a friend today.

*****
AND REMEMBER

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anais Nin

Thank you Dana for your kind words yesterday.  They warmed my heart and as always, made me smile with renewed light.  *hug*