By now you have undoubtedly heard, seen, or read Mitch McConnell's famous words referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren. 

She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted. 

He obviously meant those words to explain why Republican senators shut her down as she read from a letter written by Correta Scott King, wife of the late Martin Luther King Jr., on why Sessions shouldn't be confirmed as the Attorney General.

When I read McConnell's words, however, I heard them as a battle cry. A life verse. For some reason, my soul grabbed on those those words and cried, "YES." 

She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.

Hello friends. How are you? Staying healthy, warm, and well-fed? Those are my hopes for you, at least.  

It's been an okay couple of weeks. It seems like forever since I last blogged about my 2017 wellness goals/strategies... but it was less than two weeks ago, so... that may tell you a lot about how those strategies are going. 

Actually, things have just been busy. It's hard to focus on personal wellness when there are a thousand other pressing matters vying for top billing in your life (to estimate low). Seriously, though, self-care sounds like a no-brainer - feed yourself well, breathe, sleep, drink water - and yet is the toughest thing on my plate right now. The basics. Very hard. 

Anyone else?

Last year I resolved to run 500 miles in 2016. I didn't do it. I stopped caring pretty soon into 2016 when running didn't fit easily into my regular schedule. I say "easily" with intention - I could have made an effort to fit running into my routine. I could have. I wanted to. Just not enough to actually make it happen.

Isn't that how it goes with goals we don't end up achieving? We wanted them, but not enough? Or something else got in the way? 

This year I decided a better goal was to run one mile every day. Not 365 miles by the end of the year, but at least one mile each day. It was more about the habit than the distance covered.

Well, it's January 5 and I did not run one mile yesterday.

Last Sunday I had the privilege of speaking to a congregation about stewardship. I'm not sure why I was their choice for such an important day (Stewardship Sunday is kind of a big deal in church-world), but there I was and it was a blast. I really enjoyed speaking with them and I think they enjoyed our time together, too.

I thought to myself afterwards, "Gee I wish that had been recorded so I could show my parents," because I'm 34 years old and still like to make sure my parents are watching what I'm doing so they can tell me they're proud of me. 

Lo and behold, it WAS recorded and my dear friend Aran even posted in online.

Hi, my name is Gloria and I'm white. (Obviously. I have a pretty blog and I write about my feelings.) But, as a white person I have noticed this little thing that white people do.

They say "all lives matter."

What an exciting time to be alive, to see so many white people rise up and declare their passionate belief in the sanctity of all human life.

I like trees. To be specific, I like pine trees. Tall ones. The kind where the branches don't even start until they're higher than your house and the top is somewhere near the moon.