Plastic Jesus?

I'm often amazed at the workings of the Lord in my life. I wonder why it is that he chooses to bring certain people to us at the exact moment in our lives when we need them the most, and we had no clue that we needed them. My friend Heidi and I go way back to 7th grade. I hadn't seen or heard from her since high school. She found me on facebook a few months ago, and she has changed my life. I am inspired by her deep faith and gentle kindness. She inspired me to begin blogging. She inspires me to pray more, to take scripture into my heart. She inspires me with this post, especially the video. I see myself in it. Do you?
Living in His Amazing Grace

The Love of a Mother

Mary came running to the van in tears at the end of her second day of life as a third grade student. She climbed into my lap, barely fitting behind the steering wheel, and buried her tear-stained face into my neck. Gently rubbing her back, I asked her to tell me what was bothering her. "Oh Mom, Colin told me that the reason my locker is on the bottom row is because I'm so small!" Once again, sobbing overcame her. "But Mary," I said, "You are one of the tallest girls in class. You know that what he said isn't true. That's such a little thing to be so upset about." She looked at me earnestly and replied "Mom, it hurts." The tears continued. All I could do was to hold her close to my heart until my sons came out of school and it was time to leave. A promise of some special time baking cookies together helped to ease her pain for the moment and she crawled into the back seat, buckled her seat belt, and we drove home.

This is how I imagine our pains look to Jesus. He knew the ultimate suffering, yet he gladly welcomes us into His arms with all of our 'little things'. He lets us cry and sob as He holds us close to His heart. He promises us the joy of heaven if we can only bear with the pain in our hearts a little while longer on the journey to our eternal home.

My dearest Jesus,
when You suffered little pains of daily life, did You run to Your mother and cry on her neck? Did she hold You and rub Your back and comfort You with the gift of her time? Did the tender love she showed You each day help to carry You through during Your greatest suffering in the crucifixion? Remind me that no matter how small and trivial my sorrows may be, I can always find comfort in the arms of your Blessed Mother just as You did. Thank you sweet Jesus and dear Mother Mary for always being there for me whenever I need a little reassurance in my daily trials. Amen.

Silence the Song

I heard the bird sing
so sweetly
outside my window.

His merry tune
woke me
each morning.

Now
the silence
hangs heavy,
suffocating
my own song.

On the lawn
a mass of feathers
tells the gruesome tale,
and one satisfied cat
hides in the bushes,
licking his whiskers.

Living with Boys

My sons fill my house with loud, boisterous life.
They laugh and shout and fight and make lots of strange noises.
They slap each other on the back for encouragement or in anger.
Dirty looks and course language are often exchanged.
Sometimes, I think the ceiling will cave in when they wrestle and jump upstairs!
I scowl and frown and remind them to behave.
But inside, I’m envious.
I wish I could join them in their energetic youth.

Flood of Peace

Loving Jesus,

Wash me away
in a flood of peace.
Take me somewhere new,
somewhere calm and serene.
Let Your flood of peace
fill me
so I become unaware
of everything
except
Your love.

Amen.

Family Rosary Tradition/Rosary.com

You may have read from other blogs that Rosary.com is back! You can find my Family Rosary Tradition story here.

Please visit Rosary.com for all of your rosary needs!

Pondering Pages/Gifts From the Sea

A weekly MEME sponsored by Lara at Holy Mothering...

A few years ago, I experienced what I was sure was a mid-life crisis. I know that term seems so cliche, but I just can't explain it any other way. For the first time in my life I felt challenged to define who I really was and where I was headed with my life. Up until that point, I was always self-assured and confident. Suddenly, I felt like a frightened child, as if everything I had known and loved fell to pieces in my heart. I was scared, confused and depressed. I'm sure that God used this time to draw me closer to Him, as He often uses our trials in life as a means to show us His deep and tender love for us. In "Gifts from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, I felt the compassion and understanding of God through her words of experience. This book tells the story of a retreat she took at her summer home by the sea. While alone with God, the sea and her notebook, she pondered the meaning of her life in a beautifully poetic way and through her words, I no longer felt alone in my struggles.

"Many people never climb above the plateau of 40-50. The signs that presage growth, so similar, it seems to me, to those in early adolescence: discontent, restlessness, doubt, despair, longing, are interpreted falsely as signs of decay...In middle age, because of the false assumption that it is a period of decline, one interprets these life-signs as signs of approaching death. Instead of facing them, one runs away; one escapes into depressions, nervous breakdowns, drink, love affairs, or frantic, thoughtless, fruitless overwork. Anything rather than face them. Anything rather than stand still and learn from them. One tries to cure the signs of growth, to exorcise them, as if they were devils, when really they might be angels of annunciation.

Angels of annunciation of what? Of a new stage of living when, having shed many of the physical struggles, the worldly ambitions, the material encumbrances of active life, one might be free to fulfill the neglected side of one's self. One might be free for growth of mind, heart and talent; free at last for spiritual growth. Beautiful as it was, it was still a closed world one had to outgrow."

I also loved some of her passages about writing:

"What release to write so that one forgets oneself, forgets one's companion, forgets where one is or what one is going to do next-to be drenched in work as one is drenched in sleep or in the sea."

"I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living."

And finally, about friendship...

"Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces."

And for my friend Judy, at BENMAKESTEN, some pieces of glass she's been wanting to see, my own gift from the sea!