The Beginning of the Journey

A friend asked me once why I like to write. I don't consider writing a passion for me; however, I do--from time to time--like to express my thoughts and feelings by writing them down. You see, writing began for me at Christmas time the year I was in the third grade. A single friend that my mom worked with gave me a Christmas present. It was a pink diary from Hallmark. I can still see Betsy Clark on the front of it (Does that bring back memories, or what?). Thus began my writing and journaling. Now, for a third grader, you know that there wasn't very much to those writings. "Went to school. Saw Andrea. Went bicycle riding with Melinda." Lots of misspelled words. But as I grew older, that same practice became a part of my every day life. I have hot pink spiral notebooks that recount just about every single day of my life in high school...all written out in purple or pink ink...in cursive or print...recounting who said what and what had happened on that particuliar day. I've hidden those diaries. I haven't looked at them in years. More from embararssement at my shenanigans in those days and simply for the desire to keep the past buried. Sometimes, the past just isn't worth re-reading.

I say all of this because I want you to understand that this blog--The Journey--is more about me than my family. It's simply another diary of my present life. But I want it to be more than just a review of the day's events. I'm hoping that it will be more about the spiritual journey that I'm on. More uplifting and a blessing to others as they read and discover the God that I know and love and His merciful work in my life. I haven't mentioned The Journey blog in the Horton Family blog simply because this one is personal. If others happen to stumble across it, then that's fine. If you enjoy it, please pass it on to others.

As for the pink Betsy Clark diary, I still have that one, too. It's at my parent's house buried in a box somewhere in the attic. But there is a line in that diary, written in print and in blue ink. It's on about the third page and it reads: "I think I got saved today." That pink diary represents the beginning of The Journey.