Mary Ann Hayes

I’m taking time out this week from “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” to honor the reason for the season: a tiny baby born in a cold and undeniably bare bones environment to parents of unbelievable faith. The life of Jesus is the footprint our lives should extend from. Imagine a world where the hungry are fed, where violence is replaced with patient understanding and love, where complaints are replaced by acts of kindness and words of encouragement.

Such a Pollyanna outlook, wouldn’t you say? Yet there is so much room for improvement in this world we live in, a vast galaxy of hearts that need to soften and words that should never be spoken and actions that should never be done.

I am concerned for us as a society. Our emphasis on personal appearance is overwhelming, even to the most attractive of us. We do upkeep on everything, our homes, cars, ourselves, etc., yet not much of anything is done to strengthen our souls. Our spirit is who we are. Our soul is the part of our spirit that listens to God and follows the direction of the Holy Spirit. If we never bother to quiet ourselves and listen to the inner voice of God, how then does one enrich-en the soul? The answer is, of course, we don’t. And because of this we live in a selfish, hollow world, where parents fear for their children’s safety as they board the school bus each day.

My new years resolution for 2013 is not to get in shape, lose those pesky twelve pounds, do something different with my hair. My resolution is to feed my soul on a daily basis with the word of God. May I become the person I was always intended to be through His holy word.

God Bless,

Mary Ann