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Our View: Wood-fired steam plant at SOU makes sense ... Help wanted: The Medford School District needs you ... Mining company faces long odds in Smith River proposal ... Our View: Wood-fired steam plant at SOU makes sense ... Help wanted: The Medford School District needs you ... Marketta Gregory: Time to start Comment By Marketta Gregory More Content Now MailTribune.com By Marketta Gregory More Content Now Posted Jan. 29, 2015 @ 12:01 am By Marketta Gregory More Content Now Posted Jan. 29, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News My favorite journal is brown with antique maps wrapped around its cover. Just inside it carries a 2008 inscription from my husband. Words of love and encouragement. Words that urge me to “become intoxicated by the fragrance of every flower that makes up the beauty of (my) heart.” Beyond that is a blank page. And another, followed by another. In seven years, my pen has never landed there, never rolled across the lines for fear my words wouldn’t be sturdy enough to hold my expectations. What if my penmanship was messy? What if all I could think of to write was a shopping list? How fragrant would those words be? The edges are turning with age and thankfully I’m turning as well – toward beginning and enjoying. I have a handful of resolutions for 2015, and they all fall under a one-word theme: start. Start writing in the journal, even if it gets filled with ramblings and doodles. Start the project I’m afraid I’ll never be able to finish. Start learning something new. Start scheduling regular dates with my husband. Start praying out loud for my kids. Start kicking fear out the door, and start trusting that – whatever it is – God’s got this. Start acting like this life here is a gift, and I really don’t have a moment to waste on worry or self-doubt or unforgiveness. Start. It’s a good word, and I suspect it’s a good way to come alive in 2015, a good step toward true faith. That eloquent husband of mine, he likes a scene in one of the X-Men movies from more than a decade ago. One of the characters, Magneto, is crossing a dark abyss. At first, there is no bridge. No rope. Nothing. But when Magneto lifts his foot to take the first step, rocks rise and form a steady walkway. Each step after that – each start – brings more rocks for Magneto to walk on until he has safely crossed. It’s that way with faith, too, my husband tells me. We start and we trust, even without a visible pathway. Without all the answers. Without all the resources lined up in neat rows. Without knowing how we’ll fill the page. So here’s to having the faith to start in 2015. Marketta Gregory is a former religion reporter who now shares her own journey of faith with readers. She lives in Rochester, New York, with her husband, their three young boys and one very vocal Pomeranian. To contact Gregory, email [email protected] or write to her at P.O. Box 12923, Rochester, NY 14612. You can also visit the Simply Faithful page on Facebook and follow her on Twitter at @MarkettaGregory. By Marketta Gregory More Content Now MailTribune.com By Marketta Gregory More Content Now Posted Jan. 29, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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