Not thankful for screaming kids…should I say that? Makes me sound like a curmudgeon….opinion, some people let their kids whine too long before they correct them…home, one thing, out and about in public is a totally different thing…sigh…ok, probably unpopular opinion over…
Haven’t written here in awhile but November seems an appropriate time to offer some thanks…
Yesterday was Veterans Day. We were able to take my Mom up to Casa De Fruta and have lunch at Casa De Restaurant. My Dad used to like going there to eat lunch or walk around. He’s not with us on Earth anymore but it was nice to take my mom and I think she enjoyed the drive.
Kids who aren’t whiny. I have a few sweet students at school who routinely ask how I am and inquire about my sister. I’m thankful for kind kids.
My run this morning. We are definitely so much slower but I’m thankful to be able to wake up and go outside and run in the cool crisp air, even if now or days it’s a run/walk and even if it’s 5AM, yes AM.
My sister has been back to hospital in the last couple of weeks. Not good news for her kidneys and while I remain concerned I’m also thankful for good doctors and health care people. I pray everyday my sister is surrounded by people who can help her make good decisions.
Not sleeping a lot the last few weeks. I fall asleep and then wake up, all the worst ideas of what happens if my sister loses all her kidney function. I’m thankful that my Mom taught me the Our Father when I was a little girl and the Hail Mary. I’m thankful for the sisters at St. Joachim who taught me the other prayers that make up our rosary. I’m thankful for Bishop Barron who’s recorded the rosary on You Tube. I can put it on when I wake up in the wee hours and pray myself back to sleep. The Luminous Mysteries are my favorite.
Lastly I’m thankful it’s almost time to head home. It’s been a long day.
For all these things…I Give Thanks!
Ran the Two Cities 5K, did better than we thought….KOR…next run our local Turkey Trot!
We’ve been on Christmas Vacation. My daughter got off the week before me, my husband’s vacation started on Christmas Eve but now they are back to school and work today and I have another seven days off. I smartly or stupidly, I can’t decide which, scheduled a lot of health appointments and check ups for this week. Right now as I’m looking at the schedule I’m leaning toward stupidly, but I did try to make time to meet up with a friend or two here or there, so we’ll see how that turns out.
Since my last post we’ve had sweet Emily’s memorial service. My daughter sang at the funeral Mass and I wonder how she found the courage to sing, I wasn’t asked, but I’m not sure I could have even if I was. She sang well. It was a lovely service for a beautiful lady. I’ve always found comfort in the funeral Mass, probably because I’m Roman Catholic and the service is familiar, giving room to the grieving to do just that, grieve, while reminding us, Emily is not far or absent, just part of the “invisible”. That’s not always great comfort at 2:00AM when you wake up missing someone or anticipating a loss, but in the moment it provides a space to think about your own mortality, what kind of life you want to live and the ultimate goal, heaven.
I have so many people now to reunite with in heaven. Our Lauren Rose of course, my baby sister Tracy, my Dad and, now almost all his brothers and sisters, good friends, like Hector who we lost last year, Great-Grandma’s Doris and Lana(who Laina is named for) and, Great-Grandpa Floyd, my own grandparents, one who I only know by pictures and the other who I vaguely remember, but the memory is not a happy one, the list is growing. I had a friend who said her Grandmother once told her, if you live to be old enough you will know more people one day in heaven than on earth. I think her Grandma is right and I don’t always like it.
It’s been a rough Fall and, I have found myself holding onto God’s promises tightly, even while my brain fights me, especially it seems around 2:00AM. Maybe a believer isn’t supposed to admit they struggle at times but I do and I think Jesus knew we would or he wouldn’t have put all His promises in writing and surrounded us with people whose faith at times is stronger than our own.
Still, in the midst of all the sad, we have life to look forward to I suppose. Track season is coming up and I love to watch our daughter run fast, she’s pretty good at it and has found more success in track than cross country. I’ve always thought running provides us with the opportunity to train our minds to be mentally tough and theoretically that should help with life, though it doesn’t always. I was glad when she decided she would try out a track group called the Flyers when she was in 6th grade and she enjoyed it, so we stuck with track and it’s been fun to watch her set goals and most of the time achieve them. God has surrounded her with many good coaches who love Him and as my goal for our daughter has always been heaven and not a career or things, I’ve been pleased and thankful with the adults God has placed in her life.
The second semester of the school year will start Monday for me and I hope to see all my students back safe and sound. I hope they’ve had a restful vacation and I hope they are ready to learn some more Chemistry. We’ll see, quite often it seems I’m the most excited one in the room. It makes me wonder if Jesus ever felt like I do sometimes. I kind of don’t think so because He is Jesus, but I feel badly if He did! Some days I’m really excited to share a lesson or something I found out or learned with the kids and they are NOT as excited as I am. In fact, they are clearly elsewhere, listening to music with their ear pods hidden under their hair or cap or sneaking peaks at their phone every time it buzzes and as a teacher you can get to feeling pretty ignored. I wonder if Jesus ever felt or feels ignored, like I do in class some days. It’s a lonely sad feeling, so I hope not. We can look to the bible to find out if Jesus every felt like I do sometimes. When Jesus was about to die on the cross before he died he called out, in a loud voice, “Eli Eli lama sabachtani” translated, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
When I googled the word forsaken, AI said forsaken means, “to be abandoned, deserted, or left completely alone. To be deprived of another person or let down when you are in need.” If Jesus felt forsaken on the cross, maybe I’m wrong and He does know exactly how it feels to be ignored by a class full of teenagers or when I’m awake at 2AM pondering a future only He can see? Yeah, I’m wrong, but it doesn’t always feel like I’m wrong. So I love that Jesus left us His book, with all its stories that point to Him and with his teachings to remind us of His love.
A friend told me my words sounded heavy. Another friend recently told me I seemed weary and I am. The weight of my responsibilities sits heavily upon me some days and I am weary of all the sad, so tired. Deaths, illnesses, now these fires in LA, for some reason, ever since Covid, at least for me, it seems a constant stream of loss or tragedy after another, but as Peter said, “to where will I go, you have the words of everlasting life.” I’m holding on tight to those promises and I think of JJ Hellers song, Your Hands.
“I have unanswered prayers, I have trouble wish wasn’t there, and I have asked a thousand ways that you would take my pain away.
I am trying to understand How to walk this weary land Make straight the paths that crooked lie, Oh Lord, before these feet of mine, Oh Lord, before these feet of mine.
When my world is shaking, heaven stands When my heart is breaking I never leave your hands”
So my vacation is over in three days and I’ll be back to shining my light best I can. Break was filled with it all this year, sad, happy, regretful, anxious, weary, heavy thoughts. The waves seem to be crashing all around me, like the day we went for a drive to our favorite beach and they were wild and so tall, ready to sweep away anyone who wasn’t paying attention, but…
“What can make me whole again? Nothing by the blood of Jesus.”
For me there’s no other answer, there’s no other place to go, but Jesus and so today…
for Jesus, my brother, God, my Father and the Holy Spirit, my counselor…I Give Thanks!
We ran the Jingle Bell Run during break and our long run is back down to 4miles currently, due to a few reasons, that’s my update on that, we are planning on doing a 5K in a week that I’ve never run before so hopefully that will be fun. KOR
Crazy waves…Fun New Years Eve game…I lost 😦Our zoo as Baby Meerkats!Beautiful hikes! Visit down south…
Today is the feast day of our Guardian Angels. Angel means messenger.
If you grew up Catholic then chances are you learned this prayer growing up:
“Angel of God, My Guardian dear, To Whom God’s love entrust me here, Ever this day be at my side, To light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen. “
Most Catholic kids learn this prayer by first grade. I went to a Catholic elementary school so I think I learned it in Kindergarten. The first prayer I ever learned was the Our Father and my Mom taught it to me. I remember I was kind of goofing around and she said in no uncertain terms that we do not goof around when we pray. I understood in that moment with my Mom all those years ago, prayer was important. I don’t think she actually knows that.
Angels are all throughout the bible. In Genesis 3:24, God placed an Angel with a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life. In Genesis 19, two Angels rescue Lot from Sodom. In Numbers 22:22-33 an Angel of the Lord blocks Balaam’s way. In the book of Judges the Angel of the Lord shows up and talks to Gideon and inspires him to battle to free Israel. In Daniel 6:22, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions mouth.” We meet Raphael in the book of Tobit, he helps Tobit’s son Tobiah on his quest to help his father. (If you aren’t Catholic you might not have this book in your bible, it got taken out after the reformation, it’s a good book, if you get a chance, you should definitely read it.) We meet Michael in Daniel, Jude and Revelation. We pray the St. Michaels prayer every Sunday before Mass.
“St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast out Satan and all evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”
We meet Gabriel in Daniel and later in Luke, he speaks to Mary and Zechariah. An angel rolls back the stone at the resurrection. There were angels in the tomb who told Mary Magdalene that Jesus was gone. (John 20:12) When Jesus ascends into heaven two angels ask the apostles what they are looking at in the sky. Acts1:11. There are many more examples but I think you get the idea. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church sections 325-349 cover angels. This is from section 336 “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.” But don’t take my word or the word of the Catholic church, Jesus himself says there are angels and that he can summon them if he wants to, in Mathew 26:53. In Mathew 18:10 he says “see that you do not despise one of these little ones for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
When I was 18 I was in a really bad roll over accident on the freeway. I hit a concrete barrier and flipped my car three times and it landed on its side. A truck driver from the opposite side of the freeway ran over and pulled me out of my wrecked car. I had one scratch. I should have died. Let me explain. Back in the 80’s there was no seat belt law and so when I learned to drive when I was 16, sometimes I wore my seatbelt and sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes to help my parents out I would take one of my siblings to school. The morning of the accident I took my little brother to school. We got in the car, a little Dodge Omni and I got ready to take off but before I put the car into gear I heard, “Debbie, put on your seatbelt.” It was odd but I listened and I put on my seatbelt. Twenty minutes later I was hanging by it on the side of the freeway. When the car first hit the barrier I thought a few things, first I thought, “Wow, so this is how it ends, so fast”, then I thought, “My Mom will be so sad,”, then I thought, ” I need to say the Our Father, if I make it to the part about forgiveness I’ll get to heaven,” then everything was black. I could feel glass and dirt hitting my face as I prayed and rolled. A lady pulled over and she was from my church and she hugged me and stayed with me and a man, I think a policemen, called my Mom at work and she came. If I didn’t put my seatbelt on I would have flown through the window of my car and I would have died or at least been severely injured. I was traveling at 65 miles an hour, just over the speed limit when it all happened. I went to work the next day and my co-worker found out that I was the one in the car she saw flipped over in the center divide of the freeway and she said, “I thought for sure whoever was in that car was dead.” I know God was with me for sure. I know the Holy Spirit told me to put on my seatbelt. I think my guardian angel covered me and held me in that car when I hit a cement barrier at 65 miles a hour, flipped three times and landed on the side, hanging from my seat belt. God sends his angels to guide and guard us. I was taught this from the time I was a little girl. I remember being afraid actually of sitting on mine somehow. Makes me laugh to think of that.
I’m sure many people have stories of angels. When my Dad died I could feel someone holding my hand during the Our Father and I thought it was my Dad, then I thought it was my Guardian Angel, later I decided it was Jesus, because he promised he was close to the broken-hearted. In the end, I don’t spend too much time wondering any more because whoever it is that holds my hand is either God or from God and I’m ok with that.
The beginning of our Creed goes like this, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible…” it continues on from there, the point being there’s a whole invisible world we can’t see and that world includes angels and my Dad. When Father John came out from the hospital after giving my Dad his last rites, he told me that my Dad was part of the invisible not the absent. When Jason’s Dad died, Jason told me it gave him comfort to repeat the end of our Creed, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” I wonder at the things we can’t see and I’m glad God has sent each one of us our own angel to watch over us.
Another great thing that happened today is that one of my students got baptized yesterday! He attends a church called Foundation 365 and I wanted to go support him, but it didn’t work out. This morning, however, he was so excited and he gave me a hug because he knows I’m a Christian and I got to congratulate him and give him a card I had written for him. I got to see pictures of his baptism and was just so excited for him. I promised to pray for him so if you are reading this please pray for him too! Our youth have so much against them. I watch my own beautiful daughter struggle with thoughts that are not from God. Thoughts that tell her she is unworthy, un-liked, unloved, even though there is ample evidence that this is not true. I tell her we have to train our minds to trust in and hope in God’s words and its not easy so I’m glad my student will be able to recall his baptism when life gets difficult and remember whose he is. I hope he will continue to learn about all the love God has for him. I can only answer questions about God when the kids ask me directly. I’m glad he asked if I was a Christian and I’m happy he shared his baptism with me.
For today for Guardian Angels and Baptisms…I Give Thanks!
We ran only 2miles today but we managed to keep with our 30/30 and 1/30 run/walk intervals so that was good…doing better everyday!
KOR
This is the neighbors cat…he likes to join us on our runs…he’s really a tripping hazard but so cute!
Well, this one was easy as I almost always hold the door open for students when they come into class, so task accomplished. My poor husband though, who I met for lunch, couldn’t seem to get anyone to walk through any door he tried to hold open! Poor guy.
This topic got me thinking actually about how holding the door open for people is more than just the literal act of holding open a door. We can all “hold the door open” for people in lots of different ways. We can take a meal to someone. We can spend time visiting someone who might be lonely. We can give a young person some much needed encouragement or sound advice that they might not be able to get at home due to circumstances quite often out of their control. We can do so many things to “hold the door open.”
Today’s reading was about Isaiah and his prophecy of Jesus. The gospel was about Jesus telling the disciples basically, hey, I’m THE GUY, THE ONE, remember yesterday when I was wondering what exactly Andrew and Simon saw that made them leave immediately? Today Jesus said this:
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
I believe the bible is a living book. It speaks to us wherever we are. It’s God’s way of communicating with us, among others, every time I open it I learn something or hear something I never quite heard before. God meets us in His word where we are. Today Jesus told me, it’s ME, I AM the one you are looking for, don’t be like the people who refuse to hear the good news, be like a little child. To do that, Father says you have to be open minded, open to all the possibilities a relationship with Jesus brings.
The Advent reflection today introduced me to a cool website called, wearesaltandlight.org. My husband and I met with a friend over the summer about trying to do something for the youth at our church to give them the opportunity to go out and practice their faith in a concrete way. I am of the mind though that kids need models and so if they see their parents and other church members practicing their faith in concrete ways they will follow suit. We talked about creating a database that contained the different gifts of parishioners so that we could match them up with people in our parish who are in need of concrete help in addition to prayer. Nick Vujicic from Life Without Limbs, says we are God’s hands and feet. If you don’t know who he is, google him, and then you will know why this is amazing. We want our daughter to live her life with intention. To have a purpose and a goal and so I think we need to model that for her so she knows what that looks like and how it is to live with intention under God’s direction. Sometimes she’ll ask me what I think she should do when she grows up and I always ask her what she thinks God is asking her to be. She thinks so far maybe a vet or a nun. I want grandchildren so I’m hoping for vet, ha ha. She has a love for animals and she has a love for people. She has a very sweet heart. I like that about her. She is a good example for me. It was good to come across this website because now it has made me want to spend some time over the break looking through it and really making a plan for this next year and living that plan intentionally.
I feel happiest when I am helping others. I think most people do in general but I know for some people it feels more like a chore. I just know that I really have enjoyed having our little troop work on service projects this year instead of some of the other “lessons” we are supposed to be doing.
The other cool reminder I got today, going back to something I mentioned yesterday about migrants and refugees, was that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees. They had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod. I never thought of that before. The challenge question today was to think about Mary and Joseph, particularly Joseph and how he must have felt at having to leave his home, frankly for political reasons. We see that with many many migrants and refugees. I imagine Jesus is very close to them as He understands what it is to be a refugee.
I am constantly amazed at how God made one person who could understand so many many many different facets of human life. Jesus was born but also adopted. He was a refugee. He was poor. He worked. He had friends. He was persecuted and mocked. He was constantly questioned by the Pharisee, a way to check his intelligence, I suppose. He suffered the loss of a good friend. He despaired. I think we’d be hard pressed to find any situation that we find ourselves in that Jesus didn’t also live through. Amazing. Our pastor says that the number one most important thing in our lives is to get to know Jesus, to call him friend. Today I was listening to a podcast and the woman preacher asked if we were dating Jesus or married to Jesus, because you treat those two situations differently, one is total commitment, the other lukewarm.
Well, lots to think about today. I didn’t even write about St. John Damascene, who had to flee his country because of religious persecution. I’m really glad a friend suggested I try out the holidailies because its given me a goal to be intentional about. Thank you friend!
Today for finding out about wearesaltandlight.org, for being reminded about all the ways Jesus knows me, for my husband holding my door open, for Advent, for good strong run this morning, for the roasted chicken I am making for dinner, and for the beautiful view of the snow on the mountains…I Give Thanks!
KOR
It’s hard to see kind of but here’s a picture of our snow capped mountains. A great sight here in my Ca Valley…
Yesterday was the Feast of the Guardian Angels. If you grew up Catholic, you likely know the Guardian Angel Prayer…
“Angel of God, My Guardian Dear to Whom God’s Love entrust me here, Ever this day be at my side to light, and guard to rule and guide.”
We were reading about Angels last night and we found this interesting reference in Tobit. If you aren’t Catholic you don’t have the book of Tobit in your bible. I believe it is the only place in the bible that the Arch Angel Raphael is referenced.
“Raphael called the two of them aside privately and said to them: “Bless God and give him thanks before all the living for the good things he has done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Proclaim before all with due honor the deeds of God, and do not be slack in thanking him.*“Since my blog is supposed to be about giving thanks I really liked what Raphael was telling Tobit and Tobiah.
Our pastor has a Pastor’s Corner that is published every Sunday in our church bulletin. He’s on Part 7 of a series on Holiness. *This week he talked about Prayer of the Heart. He said that he likes to start his day focusing on blessings in four categories:
*1)the glories of creation 2)my life, family and friends 3)redemption through the sacrificial love of Jesus 4)the last 24 hours.
The idea is to spend a few minutes in each of these areas thinking about and giving thanks for the blessings we have in each category. I tried it today by focusing on just the first one. Running and Hiking have taken us to many beautiful places. I love being outside, spending time in God’s creation, so this was an easy place for me to start.
I can report that Father John was right. It is a nice way to start my day. I have to admit I didn’t spend a lot of time on 2-4, guess my road to Holiness will take a bit longer. It was hard to be in a sour mood after contemplating all the amazing things God has created for us and how ALL of creation bends to His will. I had help with a song by Hillsong United called, So Will I…if you are looking for a good way to start your day, you can’t go wrong with this song and time with Jesus.
I definitely feel that I’m getting a clear message from Jesus about Thankfulness and its importance in my life…
So for today, God’s Creation, Guardian Angels, and a call to Holiness…I Give Thanks!
KOR
*Father John Warburton, O.S.J., Pastor, Pastors Corner, September 30th Bulletin, St. Joachim Catholic Church
Thankful Runner Girl 