“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” Dickens, 1859.
I live in a winter purgatory, a place where it is dark from 4:30 PM until 8 AM everyday. From about 7 January, after the three kings leave us, until the first Saturday in May, when the sport of kings and the Kentucky Derby signals for me spring, I hibernate and work on me. Not every year, that would be too efficient, but in those best of years, I go into this time period with purpose, with intentionality, of a goal and an objective.
This year is one of those years. My own personal jubilee season. After finding my way out of grief late in 2025, I turned my attention to making 2026 a year of personal growth. I’ll be 60 years old by the end of 2026, but I feel great, I’m generally in good health, my mind is clear, I’m at the top of my game in my career, my family life is bedrock, growth is still not out of the question, and in fact, I’m running towards it.
Comfort is the slow death. That’s my mantra for 2026. Who doesn’t like a bit of comfort, yes? I do, be it an extra hour in the warm bed or the cocoon of my house and fireplace versus the cold frigid air. Comfort must come in moderation. I’m walking 5+ miles a day, I’m lifting heavy kettlebells four days a week, I’m eating right, I’m reading, I’m tending to the vehicle, my body, that will drive that planned growth.
My spiritual growth is not forgotten. My mind is fully engaged in the travels of Paul and the early church. While slow and tedious, I’m keeping a compendium book and taking notes and going off on intellectual tangents about Paul’s confrontations with Jerusalem, his time in Antioch, his travel companions, the sheer volume of travel he put himself through, all of it from the road to Damascus to the prison of Rome, inspired.
I was walking and thinking about Paul as an influencer of his day, but the contrast between what we call an influencer now, and Paul, is so stark. Paul embraced the ‘comfort is the slow death’ mindset. Shipwrecks, beatings, the loss of friends who didn’t conform to his vision, the direct conflict and toe to toe entanglements with Peter and James, men who actually knew the human and risen Jesus. Paul did all of this not for self aggrandizement, not for wealth or status, but because of what happened to him on that road and in that house on Straight Steet. I’ve read for years about Paul but until I started to write it down, looking at maps, and really studying the timeline and the travels, I couldn’t put it all together. Growth.
These are the worst of times, to live in the cold, to live in a divided society, polarized by hateful rhetoric from all ends of the spectrum. These are the best of times, as there is nothing stopping us from trying to make our lives better, and when is a better time, then in the cold and the dark and away from the eyes of everyone around you? Growth.
I write these notes and posts for me. I hope other kindred souls find them, but if not, I will continue to toil, like Paul and Peter and James and so many other of my role models before me.
Dear Blessed Mother, be my guide and my companion as I walk the path to improving as a husband, father and man. Dear Lord Jesus, forgive my sins and forgive my occasional lack of faith.