Wind In My Sails - Friday Five

As some of you may have noticed, I recently joined the RevGalBlogPals web ring. This web ring is "committed to building a supportive online community for women clergy, women church professionals, and women in religious life.". There is a fabulous list of bloggers who are part of this web ring, and it is an honor to be included among such gifted and talented thinkers and writers. I have found several blogs I enjoy following among their large group of bloggers, some funny and some serious, the majority are ordained clergy in various denominations, all are articulate and thoughtful to follow.

As part of their group blogging activities, they always have a "Friday Five" group of questions about a particular topic which is voluntary to answer. I will be trying to play as I can on Fridays and will post here on the blog. Sometimes it may of be interest to my adoption readers, sometimes not. As I have explained in the past, I can not really separate my blog into categories or create two blogs, as faith and adoption are intertwined for me, so if a post is boring for you, then visit another day and I will surely be blogging about something that is more "up your alley".

So here goes, my first "Friday Five", which this week is about personal passions!:

1. Is there a sport/ hobby that is more of a passion than a past-time for you?

Well, I suppose blogging might be called one, but that seems quite obvious and is not really a hobby or sport. I can lose myself totally in photography, but sadly I am not nearly as gifted at it as I would like to be. I also read voraciously and that is probably the thing I can not imagine living without being able to do. Words linked together and the emotions they evoke or the mental picture they can create simply by placing them in a different order from the next guy or gal always excites me and has since I was in Kindergarten.

2. Outdoors or indoors?

I am in indoorsy kind of gal :-) Never hear anyone call it that, do you? I don't like heat much, can't stand wind, and could never imagine myself running a marathon or hiking Everest (not that I shouldn't be doing those things!).

3. Where do you find peace and quiet?

Hahaha! With 3 young sons in the house, the shower is the ONLY place I find peace and quiet! But all jesting aside, it actually is the one place I find I am the most contemplative. I also find my mind doing some of it's best thinking on long car drives when I am driving.

But there is nothing that compares to a snowy Colorado winter evening curled up on the couch, admittedly usually with laptop in hand, in front of a blazing fire in the woodstove around midnight when all my loved ones are tucked away in bed.

4. A competitive spirit; good or bad, discuss...

I am not at all competitive. Never have been, never will be unless with myself. For others I think competition has the potential to be both good and bad, when kept within reason. Many of humankind's greatest achievements were the result of being spurred on by a competitive spirit...our medical breakthroughs, space exploration which simultaneously brought us new inventions and materials to work with here on planet earth, etc.

Sadly though, competition often causes us to lose sight of the fact that life is not a game to be won, but is a journey to experience. We humans get caught up in winning at all costs and lose our compassion and all sense of generosity of spirit. Competition makes us climb over others, often crushing them beneath our feet as we reach for greater heights...and the cost can be devastating to our own souls as well as those whom we have trod upon.

5. Is there a song a picture or a poem that sums up your passion ?

If I am honest, my real passion is not a hobby or sport, it is my family and the world we are creating within the walls of our home as well as the lives we touch outside our home. But that seems so...well...trapped in motherhood, so utterly not just about me.

So maybe the picture at the top of this blog is the photo that best sums up my true passion.