On Faith

"You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

~ St. Augustine of Hippo (350 - 430 A.D.)

I do believe that God reaches each of us uniquely, and that each of us, in our absolute uniqueness, makes manifest an aspect of our infinitely complex and wonderful Creator. We are, of course, made by Him, in His image. Does this mean that we can each have our own path to heaven? Well, yes, of course, yes.

That's not to say, though, that absolute objective Truth is not to be found. How can we believe something as important as the meaning of Life, and have that be a subjective truth? If my truth is only for me, if it's subjective, then by definition, it isn't really Truth, now, is it? I'm not trying to say I have all the answers. But actually, I really do think that despite my own humble falterings and failings, I do have the Main Answer. I do.

Oh, dear one, I so wish for you this peace and happiness! How frustrating it is--no doubt for you even more than me--that wanting to believe just doesn't make it so. "Give me proof," you say, "faith doesn't do it for me." After thinking about it, it seems to me that it doesn't really have to be all based on faith alone. It's just the first tiny bit--just open the door just the tiniest bit--and the proof you need will be there, if you look. It's like catching the light just right, and you'll see the thing you couldn't see when the cloud covered the sun, or something.

For me, the "proof" really has come largely through rational, intellectual means, rather than just "faith" or emotion or some kind of lightning bolt. My seeking has mostly taken the form of my favorite hobby--reading, reading, reading, everything I can get my hands on about Christianity--history, biographies, literature, apologetics. Oh, and, uh, the Bible!

But more recently, believe it or not, studying ancient history and the middle ages with the kids, I've just been amazed at how every bit of human history fits together so perfectly when viewed through the lens of God's plan of salvation for mankind. By this I mean that starting from the Creation of the world and the first people, history has unfolded in a logical, measured progression through the millenia right up to the current age, according to a structured and organized plan orchestrated by its divine author. The more I learn, the less likely it seems that any of this could be random--of course this goes for science as well as history.

So I guess you could say that I'm not really just taking my religion on "faith." I analyzed it until I was satisfied that it all fit together. Actually, that's how I ended up settled on Catholicism--so far, I've found it logically airtight, which is almost a joke to say, given the 2000 years of far more learned, wise, and even holy men and women who have studied this before me and come to the same conclusions! I haven't found anything that I must "just believe." To me it seems there is actual evidence for just about everything, when I look for it.

So back to this idea of a door open, just a crack. I really think that it all comes down to seeking. It's there. He's there. Really, really, really. Not in a "praise-the-Lord," in-your-face kind of way--unless you want it that way! Just in a quiet, powerful, deep, peaceful, loving way. Really. I can't tell you how much I wish for you to have this peace--it really is the key to a happy life, for sure. I would never, ever, presume to get between you and God, but please let me know if I can help in any way! I love you so!

Small Success Thursday

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that. Join the fun over at Faith and Family live!

This week I...

1) Mailed about half a dozen packages I've been meaning to send. My dining room looks so...lonely, somehow, without that extra clutter. Don't worry--the other clutter is quickly expanding to fill the space...

2) Selected and potted annuals for my front porch pots. Risky, since it's still just April, but last year I came up with the brilliant idea to use plastic liner pots inside the ceramic planters, so I can bring them inside if it's going to get cold at night. I amaze myself sometimes with these oh-so-innovative solutions. :)

3) I paid our family bills for the month, which I LOATHE DOING BEYOND BELIEF. Seriously, I would rather walk on nails. Note to self: must offer this up in a BIG way!! Anyone got any good tips (other than paying bills electronically--I know, I know) on how to streamline this tortuous task?

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Last week I came across this darling blog, and I've been thinking about the discussion about taking kids to Eucharistic Adoration ever since. My experience with Adoration is mostly recent--five years ago, I'd never been, and I would have been too nervous to try it, figuring that I'd mess up some aspect of mysterious Catholic protocol, or otherwise embarrass myself.

Then my dear friend Fr. Bobby got ordained, and in the festivities surrounding his ordination, I learned something about Adoration: It's being in the presence of God. (I'm a genius at "learning" those really obvious things.) As in, He's really there.

Now, I can't get enough of Adoration. It is so beautiful, peaceful, powerful, real. And I do take my kids--for quick visits, even quicker if many others are there. The older ones go alone sometimes. But God said "Let the little children come to me," and I'm taking Him at His word! Sure, JPD is full of energy, and I'm sure some of those other Eucharistic Adorers don't think he's as cute as I think he is. (!) But we're quick, and we do our very best, and I really do think Our Lord is glad to see the kids. I know they need Him.

I want them to be comfortable going to Adoration; I want to show them all the "mysterious Catholic protocol" (turns out it's not so mysterious after all); I want them to see how much I love to go. We try to stop by the chapel often, just to say a quick prayer at the Tabernacle, so they get used to doing that and can see how Adoration is a bit bigger deal and requires a bit more reverence. Whatever--I don't think about it too much or try to over-orchestrate it (which would no doubt end in me feeling frustrated and very un-blessed by the whole experience!); I say just get the kids in front of Our Lord and let Him do the rest!

Last week after Mass, the boys and I paused by the St. Joseph statue (we have a special intention for St. Joseph right now--now THERE's a blog post topic coming soon) and JPD ran up onto the altar. (Thankfully, almost everyone was gone from Mass!) Before I could catch him or call out, he knelt down, looked up at the Crucifix, and started to say his "Our Father" prayer. It was certainly a sight to melt his mom's heart, I tell you! :)

Springing!

Today was gorgeous and the little boys and I did a wee bit of gardening. I love my sweet boys so much!





So, that's about it, for me and gardening, for this year. :) Just kidding--sort of. Gardening is one of those things that I really love to do--in theory. In reality it always turns out that as soon as my hands get dirty, someone has a poopy diaper, or a busted knee, or something.
And as you can see, I always have LOTS of gardening helpers. In fact, this year I'm turning over the rest of the annual-planting to the girls; they can do it all, from choosing flowers to planting and watering--whatever.
But I do like the idea of puttering around in the garden, growing beautiful things, arranging beds so that something's always blooming, growing herbs, mucking around in boots and a sun hat. Perhaps when I'm "retired" (ha!) that will be me. There are so many fun things to do--too many for one lifetime, I'm afraid! (Now is that a 40-something sentiment, or what?)

So maybe ignorance really IS bliss...

"Let everyone who has the grace of intelligence fear that, because of it, he will be judged more heavily if he is negligent. Let him who has no intelligence or talent rejoice and do as much as he can with the little that he has; for he has been freed from many occasions of sin."

~ St. Bridget of Sweden

Small Successes Thursday

This week I...

1) finally finished organizing the kids' outgrown/out-of-season clothes (not a small success, I know) and gave 7 bags away. What a great feeling! At least my house is losing weight!

2) organized a BUNCH of homeschool books that I don't need anymore for our curriculum swap. Are you seeing the pattern here? :)

3) had a lovely, peaceful afternoon with the little boys, taking Grandma to the doctor and to run a couple of errands on Tuesday. It's always nice when things go so smoothly!

Join the weekly small success fun at Faith & Family Live!

Oatmeal Ovation

I must share this exciting new breakfast thing we're doing. (My extreme excitement about this is total proof, of course, that I have no life.)

It's a two-part deal:
First, overnight oatmeal in the crock pot. What could be better than waking up to the great smell of ready-to-eat delicious homemade oatmeal for the family? I know...not waking up, because they can serve themselves! (We're not quite there yet, but we'll get there someday...)

Next, with the leftovers, JPD and I made oatmeal muffins! While there are some individuals in our family who foolishly choose not to love oatmeal, these muffins are a crowd-pleaser all around. I even made and froze some of these last fall to take on our camping trip. Yum!

Baby Love

MPD SLEPT ALL NIGHT!
For 2 of the past 3 nights, he has woken up, then gone back to sleep all by himself. I guess turning one makes you feel like doing all KINDS of big-kid stuff, right?
Hooray, MPD!



Yesterday Bill made a mohawk with MPD's sweet little hair--the kids loved it!

P.S. Did I mention that MPD SLEPT ALL NIGHT!?!?!?

Turning Nocturnal

This week Bill has been staying up late to get some painting projects done around the house. (Of course, it's far easier to paint inside the house when the gang is asleep!) So this morning, he slept in.

Overheard at breakfast from MRD: "I think Dad's turning into a nocturnal animal. I'm going to name him a rac-dad!"

Rack-Dad, indeed.

Under the Sea

For the past few weeks, WWD has been working on a report for school about a habitat. Each student chose a different habitat, and in addition to the written report, they each completed a diorama of their chosen habitat. All the completed dioramas were so cool, of course! WWD chose the ocean; if you'd like to read his excellent report, you can check it out here.

His diorama, as you can see, turned out awesome! See if you can spot the jellyfish, giant squid, whale, dolphin, and giant sea turtle (Hint: The turtle is eating the jellyfish and the whale is eating the squid. What fun would it be without a little "carnivority" going on, right?)

(Note to self for future kids' projects: The ocean is the ONLY habitat requiring the animals to actually hang from the top of the diorama. I'm just saying.)

JPD's Stage Debut

Here he is, singing "I'm a Little Bunny" with his classmates in their Spring Sing this afternoon. Look out, Broadway...

Thought for the Day

...or, for me, thought for every day (I'm a slow learner on this one, for sure!)...

"Do not worry over things that generate preoccupation, derangement and anxiety. One thing only is necessary: to lift up your spirit and love God."
~ St. Padre Pio

The Body of Christ?

Listen to this Easter craft that the girls did at school last week. They molded a marshmallow in the general shape of a body, sprinkled some cinnamon and other spices on it, then wrapped it up in a crescent roll. This creation represented Christ's body, prepared for burial in the tomb. After it was baked, the teacher took it out of the oven, aka the empty tomb. Then they ate it.

Is it just me, or is that kinda weird?

(Naturally, the girls thought it was great--after all, what could be better than getting to eat a marshmallow and a crescent roll?)

More Easter Excitement

Guess what--MPD took his first few real steps today!! My Easter boy! Hooray for MPD!



Also, if you're wondering WHAT happened to JPD's face (yikes!), he lost a fight with the sidewalk following a major scooter wipeout on Thursday. Poor guy. He likes looking at himself in the mirror, though, and saying things like "My face is all beat up!" I am so thankful for no stitches or broken teeth on this one, because it was a SERIOUS face-plant.

Happy Easter!

Alleluia!        He is Risen!!

(Let the blogging and chocolate eating and candy consumption and Diet Coke guzzling resume!)     :)

A Mother's Way of the Cross

                                                    

Today for Good Friday the kids and I took a wee road trip to a basilica in our area that has beautiful, outdoor, full-size Stations of the Cross.  The Way of the Cross starts at a picnic area at the bottom of the hill, and winds along a path through the woods, up the hill to the basilica, which is a high lookout point with an amazing view of the southern part of our state.

                           

The weather today was gorgeous, and I have been looking forward to making this little pilgrimage on Good Friday for, like, a year.  I had it all planned out:  On the way out of town we stopped to join in with friends at a pro-life vigil for a short chaplet, then we drove and listened to the kids' CD of bible stories, then we arrived, strolled up the winding Stations path praying a special Way of the Cross for children, enjoyed our peaceful picnic in the beautiful sunshine before quietly admiring the beautiful basilica, and prayed the Rosary together before loading up to head home.

                          

As if!  I really think that God loves it when I make these kinds of idyllic little plans.  He gets a good laugh, that's for sure.  When we got to the basilica, I discovered that it is PACKED there on Good Friday!  Packed, as in, they were directing traffic in the parking lot like it was a stadium parking lot! (Indeed, some people were tailgating, which I thought was pretty cool.)  So we made our way to the first Station--beautiful, everything was awesome, even though packed--except I was stressed by the fact that they had these huge speakers blaring out Gregorian Chant and I could barely speak above it to pray with the kids.  Not to mention the other large groups of, uh, pilgrims who were totally in our way at each station.  And then a large guided group with a microphone started praying one Station behind us, which was totally distracting.  And JPD kept a) running away, b) climbing up the hills around the statuary, c) rolling in the leaves, and d) running precariously along the edge of the trail near a steep dropoff into a ravine.  Oh, and MPD started screaming to be held, instead of staying in his stroller.  And WWD and I had to carry the stroller (as well as MPD) up several flights of very steep steps cut out of the hill. 

                             

By the time we made it to about the 12th Station, I was so stressed out I was almost in tears.  And then--no kidding--I believe that the Holy Spirit suddenly gave me a huge infusion of grace.  Like a beam of light streaming into my little pea brain, He illuminated the fact that my uphill walk was my own, mother's version of the Way of the Cross!  There I was, carrying a squirming, fussy baby, pushing the stroller with the other hand, chasing a spirited preschooler, trying to achieve some degree of reverence with three older children who were at least as interested in just finding a good walking stick in the woods, and I was almost in tears in frustration that the whole thing didn't match my idea of peaceful Good Friday prayers--well, God be praised!  It was His own way of giving me the most teeniest, tiniest, most minute share of His extreme and unimaginable suffering along the road to Calvary! 

                              

As usual, Mom learned more than the kids today.  After God cleared that up for me, we had a great day. 

Thy Will Be Done!   +JMJ+

Amazing Grace, Part 2

                        

It occurred to me that some of you, when reading yesterday's post, might be thinking "Why bother with Confession at all?"  Before I was Catholic, I would have totally agreed--so silly, after all.  Why not just pray?  Or, as my cool college roommate used to say as she peeked out from under the covers when I was getting ready for church early on Sunday morning: "Kim, P.A.H.  Pray. At. Home."

Here's the scoop on Confession/Reconciliation/Penance as I understand it in my meager way.  We Catholics believe that men (women too of course) are born with Original Sin infused into our DNA, in a way.  It's part of the definition of "human nature." Because of this, we're wired in such a way that we're just innately inclined to think, say, and do things that separate us from our Creator. 

Some of these separating things are big, such that, un-absolved, they would preclude us from ever going to Heaven at all; others are not so big, and these would cause us to first require a good scrubbing to clean us up enough for Heaven.  The scrubbing, of course, is called Purgatory.

"Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'?

Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleaned first.'

'It may hurt, you know.'

'Even so, sir.'  

~ C.S. Lewis

Confession, done correctly, cleans us in the meantime.  It gets us into a state of grace, so that we're all shined up to, say, receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.  Confession also helps us to purge ("Purge."  "Purgatory."  Hmmmm...) our sins on a more macro level, so that bit by bit, we can get holier and holier so that just maybe, with God's infinite mercy, we can shorten our eventual time in Purgatory and so get to Heaven more directly. 

Can't we just "Pray At Home"?  Well, sure--who doesn't--but that doesn't give us official absolution from our sins.  It turns out that Catholics really do believe this stuff is real--we have real sin, there really is a Purgatory, a Heaven, and a Hell, and at Confession--through one of those mysteries that we'll never fully understand just by reason alone--the priest becomes a sort of conduit through which Christ can speak directly to us, and really truly forgive our sins.

That is, until we walk out of church, get behind the wheel of our car, and some JERK cuts us off in traffic, and we think those oh-so-uncharitable thoughts about the jerk!  Good thing Confession's not a once-and-for-all proposition, and we get to go back as much as we want!

Go, MPD, go!

     

We love you, sweet one-year-old boy!

  

Amazing Grace

                      

Back at the beginning of Lent, I think I mentioned that along with my other ambitious (for me, anyway) Lenten plans, I was hoping to go to Reconciliation/Confession every week.  Well, I have.  It was sort of an experiment, really, just to see what it would be like to go so regularly.  In the past several years I've increased my attendance at this beautiful sacrament from once or twice a year, when I first joined the Church, to about once a month during the past few years.  So for this Lent, I went even more, thinking that it would be quite a grace-full thing to do.  Here are some of my preliminary conclusions, based on this "experiment."

The more I go, the easier Confession gets.  Of course.  It's just like anything else--say, taking care of a new baby:  At first, it felt awkward and uneasy, and I constantly needed to check the "instructions."  But when I got it figured out, it became second nature--easy as pie, and I know what works for me.

Also, the more I go, the more fruitful Confession is.  Of course.  Because in order to first do a proper examination of conscience, it's helpful to have some sort of context running through one's head involving an idea of what sins have been especially difficult to avoid and so on.  I find that going to Confession once a year, while better than nothing, results, for me, in the confession of very vague and general kinds of sins (as in "well, I can get pretty impatient at times"), whereas regular Confession enables me to explicitly target specific sinful acts and thoughts that I might have committed during a given week (for example "I was too short-tempered with the person from Planned Parenthood who called me about the upcoming election.")  :)  It's kind of like cleaning the house:  Spring cleaning is nice and helpful and all, but if you haven't done the weekly cleaning since last spring, you'll never really get to all the dust bunnies under the bed.

The "secret" of the Sacraments, that I keep learning over and over, is that they're really just such incredibly powerful sources of God's abundant grace, that the best analogy is something like a fire hose.  Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if one could actually start to glow from participation in enough Sacraments within a short period of time.  (Maybe that's why there's a rule against going to Mass more than once a day!)  They're transformational, really.  And to think that the Creator of the Universe gave us the Sacraments as gifts, just so we could be a bit closer to Him in this life, and to help us inch our way towards eternal life with Him!  It's incredible, really.

Ski Day!

 

With my Lenten blogging ban, I almost forgot to post these fun pics of our last homeschool ski day!  One good thing about living in the frozen arctic Midwest!

Speaking of School...

                                

...we're liking it.  A lot.  Every day I change my mind about what would be best for our school next year, and whether we should homeschool or have everyone go to school, or have some of us homeschool and some of us not.   I am trying not to think directly about it too much--because I really do change my mind every day--until closer to the end of this school year, just to see how things play out and just let the Holy Spirit lead me over the course of the next couple of months.

This particular school is great for us because it is so small.  To me, it seems that the school's small size provides the opportunity for much more individual instruction and differentiated curriculum than schools normally can do, it makes the school quite a sweet little close-knit community, and it seems to drastically reduce the too-strong peer influence that can happen in bigger schools. 

I'm actually also quite pleased with the religion instruction they're getting--already both girls have had a turn to actually read at Mass, which the students attend twice weekly, and WWD will get to serve at Mass for the first time in the next few weeks.  (I can't wait for that!)  They have religion class every day, the older ones pray the Stations of the Cross weekly during Lent, and they'll have Confession for the kids after Mass one day during Holy Week.  All this good Catholic stuff really takes away some of my concern about my precious babies being out in our crazy secular-humanistic society, because they're not; they're out in the rolling hills of farm country, in a tiny school with just 37 other kids. 

But:  We leave the house each morning at 7:30 (or so) and get home no earlier than 3:30.  We have to manage lunches, backpacks, and homework assignments.  I don't always see the point of their assignments, or agree that they should spend their academic time on some of the things I see them doing.  We can't set our own schedule and just take days off whenever we feel like it.  And there is just so much cool homeschooling stuff that I really want to do!  Besides, I really miss them.

On the other hand, JPD and MPD and I have really been having a good time--I'll write another post or two about some of the little-guy fun stuff we've been doing.  In addition to my major home improvement projects that are my mission during this sabbatical from homeschooling, I have been doing some preschool stuff with JPD every day, and that is great.  MPD's on the move, big time, and he's having these loooooong, peaceful naps in the now-quiet house, which is so good for him.  Having a calmer, not-so-overwhelmed Mommy seems to be just the ticket for the little guys, too!

The truth is, we are really so blessed to have more than one good school option.  No matter what educational configuration we do for next year, I think things will turn out quite nicely, really.  So I'm just prayerfully discerning God's will for this important issue, and trying to be confident that His will will be done in this and all things!

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen."    ~ Ephesians 3:20-21

Pumpin' It Up

During Spring Break, the kids' school had a fund raiser dinner at our local jumpy place.  Look what a great time we had!  JPD joined right in with the big kids; it didn't take long for MPD to do the same!

 

You Know You're a Frumpy Middle-Aged Housewife When...

Today I ran out to Starbucks on a caffeine run for Bill and myself, and when I got there I realized I was wearing my slippers!  Eeeeek!  (At least they were my cute quilted loafer ones, so that's not so bad, right?)  Maybe I should just skip the latte and stay home to brew up some Maxwell House for my old-lady self...

Yeah, and I like putting up the kids' pictures too!

"Writing can be a true spiritual discipline. Writing can help us to concentrate, to get in touch with the deeper stirrings of our hearts, to clarify our minds, to process confusing emotions, to reflect on our experiences, to give artistic expression to what we are living, and to store significant events in our memories. Writing can also be good for others who might read what we write. Quite often a difficult, painful, or frustrating day can be "redeemed" by writing about it. By writing we can claim what we have lived and thus integrate it more fully into our journeys. Then writing can become lifesaving for us and sometimes for others too."     ~ Henri Nouwen

So THAT's why I love blogging so much!

Stay Little

“The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and to put all our trust in Almighty God. That is what I have done.”

~ St. Therese

Quote of the Day

"If you are what you should be, you will set your whole world on fire."    ~ St. Catherine of Siena

If you haven't read a biography of St. Catherine of Siena, I highly recommend it.  Amazing!

Room for God

I just love this reflection based on Matthew 5:17-19 from today's entry in the Magnificat Lenten Companion:

God's wisdom guides his love, and the result is a magnificent order called the economy of salvation.  In difficult times we are forced to economize, that is, exercise a plan and prioritize to make the little we have go as far as possible.  God economizes for the opposite reason.  His "problem" is superabundance.  What he has to give--himself--exceeds our capacity to receive, so he economizes his love. 

The marvelous thing about this economy is that when God loves us, our capacity to receive expands.  Each approach of love is meant to prepare us for a further act of love that fulfills the promise contained in the previous one.  He loves us so that he may love us all the more. ...

Lent, the season of conversion, is the time to allow God's love to expand our capacity to receive his love so that we can enter more fully into Christ's Paschal Mystery where divine love goes "to the end." 

~ Douglas G. Bushman

Spring! Spring! Spring!

...which means, here in Wisconsin, mud mud mud!  Whatever...we are so happy to be outside again!

Lenten Musings

Well, Lent is halfway over, or thereabouts.  I must say that in many of my resolutions, I have been a complete failure.  It's amazing how much I've learned that the tiniest little slip-up--peeking at one of your wonderful blogs, for example--never, NEVER satisfies my need for a teeny tiny slip-up, but always, without exception, just leads to more cheating.  As in, "well, since I had that one cookie, I may as well have a few more."  This makes me glad that I'm trying to give up more than one thing for Lent...surely I'll make it through with one or two of my attempted sacrifices intact, right?   :(  (Sacrificing my beloved Diet Coke and eating vegetarian are still going strong!  In fact, for some yum-a-licious meatless recipes that we've tried this week, check here and here and here!)

But back to this issue of one slip-up leading to more slip-ups...isn't that just the darn truth?  It's like a tiny little crack in the dam or something...it never gets littler, only bigger.  Perhaps this is my lesson to be learned this Lent:  Don't give in to sin, ever, even a little bit.  Sin begets sin.

But that's only my little Lenten lesson.  I think that my beloved Lord has a bigger one for me this year...

This Lent I am learning that really, truly, I am a hopeless failure in ways more profound than cheating on cookies.  I have never felt this way before in my life--not really, not in this wallowing-in-despair kind of way.  I mean, honestly...all I want to do is de-clutter my house while the kids are in school, pursue some focused spiritual reading, and turn up the volume on my prayer life; is that really asking so much of myself?  Lots of people manage to do these things!  What is the matter with me?  Don't get me wrong--I've done a bit of each, and I'm certainly not ready to throw up my hands in despair and just give up in order to lounge in the back yard with a box of truffles and some cooking magazines (better not think too long about that one!).  I mean, I still have almost a month until Easter. 

Really and truly, my (overly ambitious?) goals for Lent this year have finally gotten me to look in the mirror and see...a failure.  My house is totally cluttered.  Our finances are in disarray.  I haven't lost much, if any, of my pregnancy baby weight and the baby is now a year old.  No matter how hard I try, I don't get up as early as I'd like to.  And my prayer life, despite being quite sweet, is just too spacey, I think. 

I keep thinking of Romans 7:15:  "For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate."  Not, certainly, that I would compare myself to St. Paul (!), but I keep thinking about this verse, and how I keep falling down, day after day. 

This, I'm thinking, must be what I'm supposed to learn--really learn, not just read or say--this Lent.  That on my own, I really truly am a failure.  Day after day, over and over--baby steps, right?--I have to keep from trying to do everything myself!  How can I continue to be such a slow learner on this one?  Really, how much time am I going to need to get this lesson...like, a lifetime or something?!?

"He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."     ~ John 15:5

 

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."                       ~ Philippians 4:13

 

"I will be present among you and will be your God and you will be my people."     ~ Levticus 26:12

 

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding."     ~ Proverbs 3:5

 

"Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it."     ~ Psalm 37:5

 

"Cease striving and know that I am God."     ~ Psalm 46:10

Sorry, I got a little carried away with the Scripture on this one!  Lovin' those bible verses!

Lenten Thought for the Day

"The more generous you are with God, the happier you will be."

 

~ Saint Josemaria Escriva

Ride on the Magic School Bus

                            

You know your son has been watching too much Magic School Bus when he accidentally refers to you as "Mrs. Frizzle" instead of Mom!!