"Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever knows my name I will set on high. All who call upon me I will answer; I will be with them in distress; I will deliver them and give them honor. With length of days I will satisfy them and show them my saving power."
Psalm 91:14-16
This is for an amazing and inspiring soul in need of prayer. Please lift this person up to the Lord as you read this today. Thank you!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Life is Beautiful...
-on a bike ride down a country road, with deer grazing (do deer graze?) in a nearby field.
-watching Mary Tyler Moore episodes with my mom and a bowl of freshly-popped popcorn (in my Stir Crazy popper from a garage sale!).
-little moments with A. when her work shift was called off: baking and cooking and mopping and even cleaning out the garage.
-around a campfire on the lake with three treasured girlfriends, making s’mores and Smart Dogs (*ahem* they are much healthier. Do you know what real hot dogs have in them??)
-when others share from the abundance of their gardens and our countertop protests under piles of cucumber, yellow squash, and tomatoes.
-reading a fun Christian fiction book in bed, snuggled under polka-dot cotton sheets.
-chubby little nephew-arms reaching for a hug or a hold, and his adorable scrunched-up grin and giggle.
-taking advantage of a rare full-hour lunch break at work and gathering with the Cardiology girls at a Mexican restaurant next door.
-standing at the window watching an incredible lightning show in the night sky before a storm (God's fireworks! SO neat...just don't tell my mom, who always taught us to stay away from windows when there was lightning!)
-fishing with girlfriends and giggling as we tried to get the fish off the hooks (it takesa village three girls to get a hook out of a perch’s mouth).
-phone calls with my marmee when I’m in need of her wisdom and understanding and listening ear.
-dancing through the house because a hummingbird landed on my new feeder (it doesn’t take much to make me happy!)
-meeting new people, sharing in conversation, laughing with a stranger.
-a motorcycle ride with my dad, loving the freedom and sunshine and daddy-daughter time.
-during a calm, peaceful evening out on the deck, praying my rosary and star-gazing, drinking in the beauty of the night…until I saw a black-and-white creature waddle up to the deck—you’ve never seen such a sneaky, lightning-fast getaway as mine. (he was a cute little guy, but I wasn’t about to risk smelling like a skunk just so I could enjoy my evening outdoors!)
Life is beautiful. What a gift.
And for the cherries on top of these colorful sprinkles, two quotes:
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” — Robert Brault
“I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking. It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest, and living close to nature.” — Laura Ingalls Wilder
-watching Mary Tyler Moore episodes with my mom and a bowl of freshly-popped popcorn (in my Stir Crazy popper from a garage sale!).
-little moments with A. when her work shift was called off: baking and cooking and mopping and even cleaning out the garage.
-around a campfire on the lake with three treasured girlfriends, making s’mores and Smart Dogs (*ahem* they are much healthier. Do you know what real hot dogs have in them??)
-when others share from the abundance of their gardens and our countertop protests under piles of cucumber, yellow squash, and tomatoes.
-reading a fun Christian fiction book in bed, snuggled under polka-dot cotton sheets.
-chubby little nephew-arms reaching for a hug or a hold, and his adorable scrunched-up grin and giggle.
-taking advantage of a rare full-hour lunch break at work and gathering with the Cardiology girls at a Mexican restaurant next door.
-standing at the window watching an incredible lightning show in the night sky before a storm (God's fireworks! SO neat...just don't tell my mom, who always taught us to stay away from windows when there was lightning!)
-fishing with girlfriends and giggling as we tried to get the fish off the hooks (it takes
-phone calls with my marmee when I’m in need of her wisdom and understanding and listening ear.
-dancing through the house because a hummingbird landed on my new feeder (it doesn’t take much to make me happy!)
-meeting new people, sharing in conversation, laughing with a stranger.
-a motorcycle ride with my dad, loving the freedom and sunshine and daddy-daughter time.
-during a calm, peaceful evening out on the deck, praying my rosary and star-gazing, drinking in the beauty of the night…until I saw a black-and-white creature waddle up to the deck—you’ve never seen such a sneaky, lightning-fast getaway as mine. (he was a cute little guy, but I wasn’t about to risk smelling like a skunk just so I could enjoy my evening outdoors!)
Life is beautiful. What a gift.
And for the cherries on top of these colorful sprinkles, two quotes:
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” — Robert Brault
“I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking. It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest, and living close to nature.” — Laura Ingalls Wilder
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Wisdom for Wednesdays
"He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands."
-St. Benedict of Nursia
Monday, August 22, 2011
Letting Him Do It
It sounded so comforting when I read it.
“Like St. Margaret Mary, you may hear Jesus a hundred times a day, saying to you, ‘Let me do it.’ In your difficulties, in your problems, in all those things in your daily life which are sometimes so difficult, so distressing, when you ask yourself, ‘What shall I do? How shall I do it?’ listen to Him saying to you, ‘Let me do it.’”
And I wanted to believe it. I wanted to feel a burden lifting. An ease that Jesus would do these hard things. That when we let go He steps in.
But instead, I felt resistant to the words in my devotional book. Doubt. Frustration. Because, my mind argued, He doesn’t always seem to step in when I let go. He doesn’t physically appear and do the hard things for me. If I let go or step back or fall down in weakness, I don’t always see Him or feel Him…and those difficulties still seem to be there.
I wrestled with the words.
Maybe letting Him do it means letting Him do it in me, through me. Letting Him pour out grace into my heart, making my weakness into His strength. That when I think I’m doing it all on my own, I don’t realize the graces and the strength He has given me. That He’s beside me, in me, with me. Just because I don’t feel it or see it doesn’t mean He’s not there through the “distress and difficulties.”
The hidden undercurrent of His grace.
I think about those Apostles . Those earthly men who followed the Divine. I look at the crucifix, at my saving Jesus on the cross, and I wonder…did they look at Him dying there, and wonder why He wasn’t stepping in? They had let go of so much in their lives and here He was, seemingly helpless on a cross. Did He look at them with bloody-beautiful eyes that spoke “Let me do it.. Let me do this.” The Apostles had no idea of the power and the grace and the redemption in that moment. The burdens and sins and darkness Jesus had taken on and was conquering.
So too in my moments when I choose to let go and to let Him…maybe I will see no actions but my own. Maybe I will not see Him taking on my burdens or defeating or conquering. Maybe I will feel like my letting go brought nothing. But I must believe. I must trust. Because there is strength and grace and power behind that action of letting Him do it.
“Like St. Margaret Mary, you may hear Jesus a hundred times a day, saying to you, ‘Let me do it.’ In your difficulties, in your problems, in all those things in your daily life which are sometimes so difficult, so distressing, when you ask yourself, ‘What shall I do? How shall I do it?’ listen to Him saying to you, ‘Let me do it.’”
And I wanted to believe it. I wanted to feel a burden lifting. An ease that Jesus would do these hard things. That when we let go He steps in.
But instead, I felt resistant to the words in my devotional book. Doubt. Frustration. Because, my mind argued, He doesn’t always seem to step in when I let go. He doesn’t physically appear and do the hard things for me. If I let go or step back or fall down in weakness, I don’t always see Him or feel Him…and those difficulties still seem to be there.
I wrestled with the words.
Maybe letting Him do it means letting Him do it in me, through me. Letting Him pour out grace into my heart, making my weakness into His strength. That when I think I’m doing it all on my own, I don’t realize the graces and the strength He has given me. That He’s beside me, in me, with me. Just because I don’t feel it or see it doesn’t mean He’s not there through the “distress and difficulties.”
The hidden undercurrent of His grace.
I think about those Apostles . Those earthly men who followed the Divine. I look at the crucifix, at my saving Jesus on the cross, and I wonder…did they look at Him dying there, and wonder why He wasn’t stepping in? They had let go of so much in their lives and here He was, seemingly helpless on a cross. Did He look at them with bloody-beautiful eyes that spoke “Let me do it.. Let me do this.” The Apostles had no idea of the power and the grace and the redemption in that moment. The burdens and sins and darkness Jesus had taken on and was conquering.
So too in my moments when I choose to let go and to let Him…maybe I will see no actions but my own. Maybe I will not see Him taking on my burdens or defeating or conquering. Maybe I will feel like my letting go brought nothing. But I must believe. I must trust. Because there is strength and grace and power behind that action of letting Him do it.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Wisdom for Wednesdays
"It was only a sunny smile and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living."
-Unknown
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