"Simplicity of life is essential for greatness of life." -Sister Erskine Stuart
Confession Time- I have been letting my heart get too busy and believing the lies of "you will be happy if you do this or get this".... So I bow before my Creator and Lord, to please give me contentment in the simple things. Heal me and bring me to life. I confess some worry and I confess that I love sleep more than most. I had trouble every day this week getting up to read A Book of Hours, but I believe have the grace to try again and again. I need pray to stay focused on my tasks.
"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature-- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." -Rachel Carson, Marine Biologist
Lent Madness Update- between Youth Group, St. Patrick's Day, anticipating Spring Break with my girls, and Hermione's band concert- I actually missed a day of voting AND didn't read a couple of the biographies, yet. It maybe a bit of stretch but this is the picture I took of my bracket and used for Instalent Challenge for the prompt Ministry Mentor. I am counting the Saints as my "ministry mentor(s)" Here were a couple of the match ups this week:
Perpetua vs. Cecilia- I voted for Perpetua because she was a mom and suffered terribly in jail. It was tough because Cecilia is the patron saint of singing, but her story didn't move me as much. I think you can guess by now that my choice did not move on.
Jose Hernandez vs. Constance of Memphis- This one was a bit of an upset for me. I wrote down Jose Hernandez on my bracket to win this round but funny story- I ended up voting for Constance of Memphis just to give the girl a chance. I feel like I should have known about the story of Constance of Memphis and I feel like more people should know about her too. Plus I have a friend who just moved to Tennessee recently so there is that. But guess who moved on? Jose Hernandez! So 4/10 called correctly, not great odds but my guy is next so he is not out of the running!!!
Origen vs. Hilda of Whitby- okay, so this one was a no-brainer for me and I have to admit that I didn't even read the biographies yet. But I will be cheering on Origen from the beginning for the simple fact that he is one of my husbands favorites and I still remember when I was pregnant that this was one of the names he was tossing around as an option for if we had a son, which we obviously did not. He is widely considered the father of the church and I am going to stop right here and go read the biographies in case I got that wrong and because I know literally nothing about Hilda of Whitby.....So after reading the biographies Hilda was sounds pretty awesome. Good thing I already voted so I don't have to do what I did today.
Felix vs. Oscar- I missed the voting time for this one! I was busy listening to the 500th episode of the Holy Post Podcast and doing laundry and dishes while also feeling very tired that I didn't read or vote. Hang on again while I read up on these two and then tell you who I probably would have voted for...I put Oscar in my brackets and he passed on btw. After reading the stories of these two, I think I would have voted for Oscar because he brought Christianity to Scandinavian nations and my husband's family is from Norway.
Juliana of Leige vs. Blaise- this was today's (Friday) match up. I actually tossed a coin for this one because on my bracket I put down Blaise to win but I really wanted to vote for Juliana of Leige. But ultimately I voted for Juliana because my girl loved the Eucharist and helped start the Feast of Corpus Christi through a vision. I am usually not into the mystics but I am really into liturgical living which I think gives me more in common with Juliana of Leige than Blaise who is the patron saint of throat problems. Maybe things would have been different if I had woken up with a sore throat this morning, but we will never know.
"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." -Princess Diana
So far I would say this Lent has actually been pretty do able. Do I always do what I should? No, but I give myself grace and I really need to understand that I don't think I am any good to God when I don't get at least 8 hours of sleep. I just don't feel alive or well when I regularly get less than that. I also haven't taken many pictures of my kids during this Lent because they are really in that old kid phase were I don't want to push them or force them to do things that don't make sense to them or cause them to reject Christ. But the picture prompt for today was #Challenge and I couldn't think of anything that I hadn't already taken a picture of but then it occurred to me that the most challenging thing I am doing right now is being a mom and especially trying to guide and teach Lucy. She is my daughter with Type 1 Diabetes and very artistic but she can also be moody and easily discontented. I could have put up a picture of all my girls, but at this time in my life, Lucy, has a rough road ahead and it is all so challenging. I have to put my trust in God so completely to get through this even knowing that this is not the end. Saint Sophia, patron saint of daughters, pray for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment