"The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it."
--Wendell Berry
What, in your past, defines you? Is it good or bad? Why?
Well, if I go by Mr. Berry, all of my past defines me, and it is up to me to make good out of the bad, and glorify the present goodness as well.
But there are things that are more sharp definitions.

• My relationship with my Creator. I see with different eyes, and I (hopefully, prayerfully) live differently in this world. I am awake for the Kingdom that John the Baptist said is "now." So nature, weather, laughter, relationships--they are are held up to the Light, and listened to closely and keenly. Because of my church upbringing, I speak the language of Christianity, and strive daily to learn new ways of saying and living who Christ is to me.
  
• My family. We have moved a lot. Lived in different cities, countries, and houses. Our lives can be told by the different backyards my big brothers and I have conquered. I'm also the youngest and the only girl--this makes me a bit dramatic, eager to please, and forever in the spotlight. My family is close: we annoy each other, we fiercely love each other, and we spend time together whenever possible. They remind me who I really am.

I am defined by many things I cannot see. They surface almost daily, and I marvel, "so that's why I am this way!" Being so aware is a difficult thing, being a lazy person I avoid such stinging awareness.
But it is in my past that I step from, it is from the platform of memory that I can fly.

"The beginning is always today."
-- Mary Wollstonecraft
If I had one more day of break I would sleep and then...
I would get up and write in my journal for a long comfortable time. I was in and out of bookstores (dodging raindrops) yesterday afternoon, and I had this particular twinge of I need to be writing. Which I haven't had in quite a while, this need to create.
It was exciting, and then I did nothing about it.
But I still feel the remnants of it, and can't wait to get started. There's such adventure in a blank page, but intimidation too. I know God has plans for my words, and I want to glorify him in all things.
School began today! The break is broken, and it's back to the grind. But I pray that my students sense the newness that a new year and semester can bring. There's always room for renewal, it's the beautiful way our God stitched this world together, with transformation and change.