Seven Quick Takes-In Gratitude

Those things for which I am thanking God today...

1. My husbands goatee is turning gray. He looks so handsome and manly in gray. I think God is a fabulous artist the way he makes the hair on the bottom turn completely gray while the sides are simply peppered with it. Paul's goatee makes me smile every time I look at him and I can never resist reaching up to touch it.

2. Even though we had a recent snowfall and it is as cold as cold can be outside, I know that Spring is just around the corner. I can hardly wait!

3. I love Lent! I love the simplicity and the doing without. I love it that Jesus takes my little Lenten hurts and turns them into Easter joy!

4. Basketball season is almost over! No more nightly running to practices, no more concession stand duty, no more sitting on the hard bleachers covering my eyes every time it looks like one of the boys are going to get hurt. My son Justin will be playing golf this Spring. We've never had a golf player in our family before. Doesn't golf sound a little more tame than basketball?

5. Need I say more?

















6. The kids are off of school today and so they are all sleeping in, and Paul has left for work. For one blessed hour I have the house to myself in the early morning hours before I have to leave for work. Today I don't have to listen to cries of "I can't find my uniform!" and "I don't know what to make for my lunch!" and "Mom, I need $10 for a field trip today, sorry I forgot to tell you last week!" and "Can you check my homework?"-all as we are trying to race out the door! Today I am enjoying an hour of silent bliss and joy!

7. No sooner had I typed the word joy, when I heard a little voice behind me ask "Momma, are you up? I had a really bad dream." Mary climbed into my lap and threw her arms tightly around my neck and buried her sweet face in my own. I asked her if she wanted to tell me about her dream, and she began. It had a dark night, lions in cages, a stranger offering her candy, and a house of graves. I am go glad that I was awake and alone and able to offer comfort to my dear little one after a dream like that. Being here for Mary when she needs me the most is worth more than any time alone in silent bliss and joy.

For all these gifts and more- I thank you, Lord!


Thanks to Jennifer at Conversion Diary for the MEME.

Amnesia

he listened, and he heard
he heard my heart speak
its sorrow and its lament
over false accusations

the hurtful words
rang in my head for so long
that I began to believe
that they were true

his voice was soothing
his words kind
"that's not you" he said
"that's not who you are"

he knew me
even when I didn't know myself
he reassured me
when my confidence was ebbing low

and now, I can hold my head up high
I can be sure that who I am
is God's delightful child
whose only desire is to please Him

Time Machine

"Going to confession is cool. It's like having your own time machine and you can travel back in time to erase the things you shouldn't have done." Joe Bender, 13 years old





















I enter the box,
heart racing just a bit
nervously wondering if I will forget
the sins I want to release.

Making the sign of the cross
with the priest instantly calms me.
I know that sin is something of which we are all guilty,
the priest takes his turn at confession, too.

I take a deep breath and begin,
soon my words are tripping over themselves
racing to get out of my system
and I end with the words-"I am truly sorry."

Now it's my turn to listen carefully
as the priest gently consoles me with words of advice
to help me live a holy life
and offers a penance to atone for my faults.

I recite an Act of Contrition
and the words I long for finally come-
"May the Lord grant you pardon and peace
and I absolve you from your sins, in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

I step out of the time machine
to a new life of peace
cleansed of my guilt and ready to perform my penance.
Stepping back in time, I resolve to sin no more.

Marked

I receive the ashes that label me as His child, His own.

The dust flakes down into my eyes, flirting with my lashes and
blurring my vision of worldly things, reminding me that the
spiritual realm can often contain that which is dirty, dusty and dark.

I let the ash that marks me settle deep within my soul,
allowing it to mingle with the sorrow and joy that God's love
has carefully placed within my life.

The sorrow and joy churn the dark ashes,
using their holiness to create something pure,
preparing them for their presentation to the Lord in Heaven.

I am marked as His own and will carry that mark
from my forehead to my soul
beyond this season of Lent and into forever.

Milk Grotto

The Milk Grotto in Bethlehem is where the Holy Family took shelter during Herod's slaughter of the Innocents. According to tradition, it is believed that while Mary was nursing the infant Jesus, a drop of her milk fell to the floor of the cave, turning the rock white. Many pregnant and lactating women come to the Milk Grotto in the belief that the chalky white powder found in the grotto has healing properties that will help with fertility, childbirth and lactation.

A Milk Grotto Shrine can be found in St. Augustine, Florida in the United States. Our Lady of La Leche is venerated here and a statue of the Virgin nursing the infant Jesus is the centerpiece of the shrine. The Shrine was built by Spanish settlers who honored Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery after a nobleman's wife and baby were spared from death during childbirth due to Our Lady's intercession.

This week I will be attending a Certified Lactation Consultant training session to improve my skills and obtain certification as a lactation consultant so that I may further assist the nursing mothers and babies in my care at the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) clinic where I work. I will be praying for the intercession of our Lady of La Leche so that my experience will be fruitful and will allow me to be of more assistance to those mothers who struggle to breastfeed their babies.






















Oh Beautiful Mother of my Lord,
you fed the infant Jesus with the bounty
of your abundant milk,
providing both nourishment and love
to your sweet babe.
Please look after all mothers
who long to follow your natural example
by feeding their own little ones with
the gift of their sweet milk
so that their babies will grow
to be healthy and strong.
But most of all, through the bond of nursing,
bring both mother and child to know that they are deeply loved
by each other, by you, Blessed Mother, and by God. Amen.

World Marriage Day and St. Valentine's

Marriage Prayer

Heavenly Bride Groom,
we come before you as husband and wife.
Pleading this day for the necessary graces to carry on
in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health,
until the hour of our death.
I promise to be the guardian of my spouse in all things spiritual
so that someday we may enter the Kingdom together.
Bless us this day, body and soul, so that one day
we may be worthy of celebrating with you
at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Amen.

Isn't it terribly romantic that World Marriage Day and St. Valentine's Day fall on the same day this year? Our youth group will be visiting the nursing home to share flowers and card with some of the residents and hopefully bring a little love to some lonely hearts. If we're lucky, Fr. Dave, our pastor, will invite all of the married couples to renew our wedding vows at Mass. I would marry Paul all over again, so I do hope we will be renewing our vows. He is such a sweetheart, romantic in ways I never imagined he would be when we were first married nearly nineteen years ago.

Paul is usually a hard rock guy. His favorite day of the week is when "House of Hair" is on the radio. Me, I prefer my music a bit more mellow. The other day I came home from some errands and a wonderful song was playing repeatedly on the CD player in the kitchen. It was "For My Wedding" by Don Henley. I had never heard it before. Paul came upstairs from the basement and asked me if I liked the song, and I answered that I loved it! He mentioned that he felt that as the years passed, we were becoming more alike, because he loved the song, too, and it wouldn't have normally been in his taste repertoire. To me, there is nothing more romantic than growing old with your spouse, mellowing together like fine wine, understanding one another without having to use words. To know, live, work, pray and grow together over the years is a beautiful blessing from God, one that I hope I never take for granted. Here are some of the lyrics to "For My Wedding"...

For my wedding, I will dress in black
And never again will I look back
Ah, my dark angels we must part
For I've made a sanctuary of my heart

To want what I have
To take what I'm given with grace
For this I pray
On my wedding day

For my wedding, I don't want violins
Or sentimental songs about thick and thin
I want a moment of silence and a moment of prayer
For the love we'll need to make it in the world out there

To want what I have
To take what I'm given with grace
For this I pray
On my wedding day
On my wedding day

On this World Marriage Day and St. Valentine's Day, I join with Don Henley and pray that we will all want what we have and take what we are given with grace, regardless of our state in life. For as long as we are seeking to know the will of God and serve Him in all things, all people-children, adults, married, single or religious-will be living a life of grace, and that is the ultimate romance, the divine romance with God, our creator, who loves us more than any human ever could.

Baby Driver

"Well they call him Baby Driver, and once upon a pair of wheels, he hits the road and he's gone." Simon and Garfunkel





















I'm now asking for the intercession and protection of St. Christopher as my oldest son, John, received his driver's license today. I am gratefully looking for his assistance in shuttling the rest of the kids around to their various basketball practices, choir practices and play dates, and running various household errands, but I am sure that Paul and I will never rest easy again! And, will I ever see my car keys again?


Prayer for Motorists

Grant me O Lord a steady hand and watchful eye.
That no one shall be hurt as I pass by.
Thou gavest life, I pray no act of mine may take away
or mar that gift of Thine.
Shelter those, dear Lord, who bear me company,
From the evils of fire and all calamity.
Teach me to use my car for others' need;
Nor miss through love of undue speed
the beauty of the world; that thus I may
with joy and courtesy go on my way.
St. Christopher, holy patron of travellers,
protect me and lead me safely to my destiny.