Dryness, Writing, and Thankfulness

"Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me."  -Carlos Fuemtes

I don't know about the rest of you, but winter is harsh on my skin.  My skin is horrible in the best of times but winter has brought out the dryness and itching and strange growths like you wouldn't believe.  My skin is not unlike my soul right now- full of dryness.  It is itching to get to the water and bread of life.  It is needing to soak up prayer and the Word.  It is like the dry bones of Ezekiel, like the desert in the wilderness, like dry land before God filled it with water- you can see the cracks, feel the crumble.  Both my skin and my soul need moisture to be healthy.  If I didn't need more reasons to love Lent.  It reminds me to soak in the Bible and in the presents of Christ especially in the Eucharist.  

"This is not yours to fix alone.  You act like you're all alone out there in the world, but you're not.  You're not alone." -Joyce Byers, "Stranger Things"

When I look at the schedule I wrote for the day it snowed I think about all the things I like to do alone, but it also reminds me that I am absolutely not alone.  My tasks seem overwhelming.  I easily lose motivation.  It feels lonely in the moment.  But I am not alone.  The interruptions remind me constantly that I am not alone.  God helps me in these little things when I feel like I don't want to be flexible.  

 "A candle loses nothing when it lights another another candle." -Fr. James Keller

Simple as this- I was thankful for a warm house with tea on a cold snowy winter day.  Lent always reminds me that it is still winter but ALMOST spring.  It is right on the cusp when I don't know what to expect.