I’m not real sure why but until today, we never had…
Our daughter really enjoyed the movie La La Land and we were trying to figure out someplace to go for spring break we hadn’t been to before…as we were looking at a list of places teens might enjoy, the Griffith Observatory popped up and I thought, she’ll love seeing the place she saw in the movie…
and she did! and we did too because it’s filled with amazing views and some really cool science stuff!!
So today for the Griffith Observatory…I give thanks!
Beware if you go…we had to park half a mile away and there are lots of stairs and if you venture out onto the trails…it’s a lot of hill! I didn’t run today but I definitely got in a hill workout!
KOR!
Griffith ObservatoryFrom one of the trails below the observatory…Hollywood sign…City views…
So…Thanksgiving Break has begun! I guess technically it doesn’t really start until tomorrow because I would usually have to get up and get to school but tomorrow I don’t! I told my students I would miss them but I was also looking forward to a break! Breaks are a much needed slow down or can be if you are intentional. Sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not. I’m trying really hard during this break to be intentional, no checking work email, moving slower than usual and being ok if something doesn’t get done right when I think it should. I’m hopeful this will keep us in the present moment more spending time with the people in front of us, enjoying their company or helping where and when we can.
Today is Sunday and we usually meet together after church as a family with my brother and sister and their kids and my Mom. It’s nice to spend time together, visit with our nieces and nephews who are also our God-Children. I love my brother and sister and I love that, for the most part, I see them every Sunday, and sometimes more than once a week, depending on what’s happening that week.
The readings this week have been from the Book of Wisdom but today’s first reading was from Proverbs, 2nd reading was from the Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians and the Gospel was from Matthew, though during week it was from the Gospel of Luke.
So kind of strange…I was working out this morning with one of my favorite people, Michelle from Faithful Workouts, http://www.faithfulworkouts.com and she said something that made me think about the story in the Bible about the talents and how the Master gave the talents to his workers and then waited to see what they would do with them. Two of the guys get back double for the Master and one of them buries his talent because he was afraid. I was wondering if I’ve buried my talent out of fear, it was a passing thought while meditating during this workout.
Fast forward to Mass…the Gospel reading was about…the talents!! Hmm…I thought, I’m probably supposed to be hearing something from this. Father Carlos talked about not being afraid to use our talents/gifts/treasures. He reminded us that everything we have belongs to God and we just get to use it for awhile. He told us we should be wise about how we choose to use our talents. I’m still pondering exactly what Jesus wanted me to hear but I think it’s the being afraid part. I’m going to think and pray on it some more.
I bought a book about grief that a friend of ours wrote. We read the first few pages today and there was an exercise about breathing in prayer. I was thinking about it and adapted it later today to use with The Jesus Prayer, do you know The Jesus Prayer? Here’s a link to the book, in case your looking for something to help you during a season of grief: Breathing Through Grief …
Lord Jesus Christ, (breathe in)
Son of the Living God, (breathe out)
Have mercy on me, (breathe in)
a sinner. (breathe out)
I liked how that worked out. It is helpful to bring your focus back to the present moment. I appreciated the reminder.
For dinner tonight I made, Pesto Chicken Pizza, yum! I don’t get a lot of time to just kind of stand in the kitchen and cook during the week so I enjoyed putting our pizza together for our dinner tonight.
Time to get somethings done for Thanksgiving….
Today for promptings, for family, for prayers, for Chicken Pesto Pizza…
I Give Thanks!
I did run a little over 3 miles yesterday. I was aiming for 5 but I wasn’t feeling all that great, but our daughter guided us through the “middle mile” of the CIF State XC championship course…it’s very hilly…and I enjoy and appreciate that she still wants to spend time with her parents, she’s a sweet girl and God has blessed up greatly by allowing us to be a part of her life…she is a gift, everyday.
KOR
Here is the Chicken Pesto Pizza Before…I forgot the tomato, but it was still tasty!
Dates can be significant for good reasons, sad reasons and everything in between…
There’s a song by a favorite singer of ours called February 20th. It’s about the day the singers daughter asked Jesus to live in her heart. Three months later his little girl would be killed in a tragic accident caused by his own son. When I heard the news I left school early and went home to hug my little daughter who was 5 at the time. My daughter, like his, was adopted from China. The singer Steven Curtis Chapman had a small role in why we adopted from China and so I was so very sad for him and his family. It was a sad day, May 21st, 2008.
About a year later the artist released an album called, Beauty Will Rise. Early on I wondered if this loss would crush him and his family or if we’d even ever hear him sing again. The album answered that question. One of the songs is called Beauty will Rise, a lyric “out of these ashes Beauty will Rise.” The whole album spoke to me, helped me and it still does.
October 23rd, 2003, 20 years ago on this day, we lost our baby girl. Her name was Lauren Rose Penland. October is a hard month, so is September now, but October has always been an especially difficult month. Twenty years is a long time and at the same time not. The sadness is still there. The memories, terrible and vivid. It’s not a place to dwell for long, it’s a sad place, a dark place, a place void of hope or happiness, just dark. October 23rd, all the things I had planned were gone, just gone. No milestones, no graduations, holidays, no dancing with her Dad at her wedding, all gone, no hugs or kisses, an empty room, quiet, the door stayed closed for awhile.
I couldn’t sleep last night, some years are easier than others, this year not so easy. I see our daughter, her sister, celebrating all the milestones, navigating high school, sports, choir, driving, and I can’t help but wonder and wish that her sister was here to help her through these teenage years, or maybe they would be at odds, who knows? I’ll never know and that’s the hard part.
At first we took this day off but over the years it seemed harder to do, obligations, work usually or just wanting to stay busy, so today I went to school and taught and chatted with a couple of students who needed extra encouragement, called home to a few parents whose kids need to be talked to, went to a meeting that didn’t seem to have a point. I did all these things even though I really just wanted to stay home. I did them because I decided to ask God how he wanted to use me today, instead of living in my sadness and that is hard, living in my sadness is sometimes easier.
When I woke up this morning it was cloudy and gray. After school I ran around and did a few errands, nothing that really needed to be done, picked up my daughter, and headed to dinner with my Mom.
On our way home I remarked to my husband that the sun had come out, maybe I just noticed it and it had been out for awhile?
We saw a beautiful Sunset.
After dinner we helped a friend connect with another friend to pass along some treasured mementos that belonged to her Dad.
“This is not how is should be, this is not how it could be, but this is how it is, And Our God is in control…and we’ll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God..”
Today for beautiful Sunsets and songs that remind me…”Spring is Coming…” I Give Thanks!
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!
I haven’t written here in a long time and so many many things good, sad and bad have happened….
Today is a busy day. My daughter is getting her braces off! She is super excited. It’s been a long process exacerbated by this thing we call the Pandemic (bad thing, very bad) but today off they come.
After a little conversation about whether or not a small space between her bottom teeth matters, we determined it should be ok. I hope it will be. Actually, I’m a little concerned about whether or not we made the right choice. I wish Jason was here so he could share the blame if it was the wrong choice. Here’s where I would insert a crying laughing emoji if I knew how…
So here we are in May, 2021 and we seem to be at the tail end of a Pandemic that has upended everyone’s daily life. Those words aren’t even a good description of what this thing has done to most people. I don’t really want to write about the Pandemic. I don’t want to write about how we lost my Dad during it, how I cry and miss him everyday since he’s been gone, how I feel a huge responsibility for my Mom now and how I feel I’m failing most days. I don’t want to write about how the Pandemic messed up schools, made kids even more unsocial and more doubting of the wonderful people they were created to be. I don’t want to write about how it upended church, how with no science that made any sense my daughter was not allowed to attend her Grandpa’s funeral service because we could only have ten people in a church that normally fits 900, an arbitrary number set by the God-less state I live in. I started going to daily Mass when my dad first ended up in the hospital, it was outside, and I haven’t stopped since, it’s inside now. I would be an even bigger mess without Jesus. I don’t feel like writing about all the sleepless nights and restless days. I don’t want to write about the anxiety we had as we celebrated the holidays with a small subset of family because I needed things to feel a little bit normal as I mourned my beloved Daddy and missed him and wanted him to not be gone but to be here with us to celebrate so many good things. There were still good things and blessings happening during this Pandemic. We still celebrated with our family, Thanksgiving (outside), Christmas with testing and masks, and New Years all against the local health departments “orders”. If I had listened to the health department I would have missed a lot more than seven days with my dad. I would have missed his last Easter, birthday, Father’s Day, etc… If I had listened to our over-zealous divisive media I wouldn’t have seen my parents for months all for no good reason because none of us were sick. I don’t want to write about or argue about the governments over step and over reach into the lives of its citizens in the name of protecting us from that which is inevitable for every single soul. Last time I checked the mortality rate for a human was 100%. I don’t want to write about how we were kept from our Dad for the last seven days of his life because the hospital was worried we would either give him Covid or get Covid, that was until they needed a signature to make someone financially responsible for the autopsy bill, then they let me into the hospital and all the way up to the floor he was on to sign the paper but didn’t let me see him to say good-bye. I don’t want to write about how my Dad was so afraid of going to the hospital or to any doctor for that matter that I believe if they (the media) hadn’t terrified everyone he might have gone in to get care sooner. I don’t want to write about the fact that they tested my Dad three times for Covid, once after he had passed. They seemed to really want him to have it instead of the heart attack he died from while they were busy making sure he didn’t have Covid. I don’t want to write about how angry or sad I get when I think about how we lost my Dad.
Today I just want to write about my daughter because she is so happy to be getting her braces off. Such a simple normal thing to be happy about. I like that and I am grateful for that. My beautiful daughter is graduating from 8th grade in a couple of weeks. How did we get here? She is such a blessing. Even if I wasn’t her mom I would think she was a kind loving young lady with a good moral character and understanding of right and wrong. Does she like to clean her room? No, she’s not a saint…yet…and she’s pretty messy in general but in all the ways that matter, I see a soul always looking to God for guidance and trusting in His love for her and that makes me so very happy. I am praying daily that as she navigates these teen years she will continue to seek His face and know and understand her value and worth is found in Jesus. This little gal of ours continues to be a reminder to me of God’s endearing love for us and so for that I am also grateful…
So kind of a weird journal entry…it’s all I have for now as I really should be grading papers, well not papers but digital assignments and I’m trying to plan a fun taco party for my department, they were all so helpful and lovely when my Dad passed away I want to do something for them…I can hear my daughter in the other room…the braces are off, can’t wait to see her beautiful smile!!
So today for the removal of braces, God’s enduring love…and tacos!! I Give Thanks!!
I was watching this movie called Free Solo about this guy named Alex Honnold. He is the first and only person to Free Solo El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. It was a really good movie. I always find stories about overcoming the odds inspiring, even if they are slightly crazy things like climbing El Capitan without any safety ropes or protection of any kind. Crazy. Cool. Crazy. Amazing.
We were just there yesterday, Yosemite. It is one of my favorite places in the world. Alex called El Capitan the greatest piece of granite in the world. That’s saying a lot coming from a man who has literally climbed massive granite cliffs all over the world. Even cooler that it is only about 2 and a half hours from us!
We love to go to Yosemite every year about this time. We enjoy the waterfalls and the beautiful views. It can be crowded in summer but the key is getting there before 8:00AM, parking the car and then hiking everywhere you want to go or taking the shuttle around the valley. Do not attempt to re-park, once parked and take food with you!
So back to this Alex guy. I was thinking how we are all Free Solo-ing every day in this thing we call life. In many ways its more scary than climbing El Cap. Alex prepared. He practiced every pitch on his chosen route over and over until he had every move memorized and it was just automatic. He had specific notes about when to do what move, how to move his body, his hands, his feet, where to put them. The consequence of making a wrong move was death.
We don’t really have that luxury. We can’t practice for what’s to come because we don’t what is coming, in most cases. We have to just go out there everyday and Free Solo our way around whatever the mountain throws at us. There are sections of granite in Yosemite on big slabs like El Cap called flake. Granite can flake unexpectedly and break away, leading a climber to an early death or injury. The same thing often happens in life. Something we thought was steady and true and never changing all of a sudden changes without warning and we have two choices, let it kill us or adjust, grab our rope and find another way up.
Today is Pentecost. Today we celebrate the rope that God sent us, the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes I forget that rope is there. Sometimes I want to do it all by myself and I forget to reach out for the rope and then smack, down I go.
It’s pretty cool that Alex climbed this massive piece of granite without a rope. He considers himself a militant atheist. I’m not sure what that means actually, to be honest. I read it here...
I’m just glad that as I do my own Free Solo in life I have a rope ready and waiting for me any time I want it. I notice, for me, its when I forget about my rope, that I get the most worried and anxious. When I start to think I need to do it all by myself that I get the most frustrated and tired.
In reality, Alex didn’t climb El Cap with a rope but he had one. He had his friends who worked with him daily during the climbing season to help him train. He had an awesome crew of camera men and fellow climbers cheering him on. He had his girlfriend supporting him in his dream. He had many ropes. He just didn’t see them or at least in the movie acknowledge them.
If you watch the movie you’ll see he’s a rather self-centered man. I guess in some ways you need to be to accomplish amazing things. Maybe he’s changed by now. I hope one day he will also find the only rope that really matters.
For Today…For Yosemite, God’s beautiful creation, and ropes! I Give Thanks!
Today is a track day for my daughter. My husband and I walk the track while she runs it. I hope it doesn’t rain.
The end of the school year is often a frustrating event for many reasons. It’s also bittersweet and full of fun activities.
We are about three weeks out from this years “end”. My daughter gets out next Wednesday actually, a whole two weeks before me.
The kids are kinda loopy. They have taken their AP Exams and are ready to be done with school. I could go on a rant about things that aren’t great but I won’t. Instead I’ll share what I’m thankful for today.
A note from a student. He is in my AP Chem class. Sweet kid. Smart. Mostly kind. Unfortunately, not motivated to be in my class at all. He will likely end the class with a C, which he has earned but he should have earned a B or A. He just would not work. I could not get him to work to save my life or his. Today I got a note from him. The AP Government class often has the seniors write notes to their teachers. I got a note from him and it was a sweet note, not just because he said Thank You, but because in the note he was able to see that he had not been the greatest student in my class this year. His Personhood… awesome, studenthood…not so awesome. I really liked that he was able to explain that he knew he could be better and do better. I really think that is an important attribute in kids, to be able to recognize their errors, reflect on them and correct them, without an adult pointing them out.
I spent an afternoon recently discussing Judas with my daughter. She was sharing different theories people had about him. She asked where I thought Judas had gone wrong. I told her that I believed Judas’s biggest mistake was not being able to believe that Jesus could or would forgive him. I told her that even more than taking money for ratting Jesus out, Judas’s grave error was in not understanding the mercy and grace Jesus offered him. If Judas had asked for Jesus’s forgiveness as he hung dying on the cross I am convinced Jesus would have given it. I told her I wanted her to remember that no matter what happens in her life, that if she somehow ends up on road she didn’t mean to travel that God always always always allows U-turns and that she should never ever forget that. I think its important for us all to remember that Jesus loves us, died for us and will always forgive us. He died for our sins, all the ones we have committed and all the ones we will commit. They are cleansed in his blood. We should never be so arrogant as to think we are above His grace and mercies. We should never be so arrogant to believe that other people aren’t worthy of His grace and mercies. They are offered equally to everyone. The very best and the very worst of humanity. That’s what makes God such a mystery. His love incomprehensible at times.
Anyway today for a God that allows U-turns, people who learn from their mistakes and become better people, for having more time to write lately, for track practice because it gives me some extra exercise…I Give Thanks!
My daughter joined a track club last month. She has been enjoying the workouts. So far I like her coach. She’s positive and encouraging. She encourages the parents to do the workouts too and so we did our first hill workout in about two years tonight. Hill repeats. Up the hill, down the hill, repeat. I think we were supposed to do it six times but we only managed five, which I felt good about. I was injured for a long time and I’ve actually been afraid to run hills because I was worried about my knee but the knee feels great and I feel great knowing I was able to push myself. We met some other parents tonight who also live in our town and so that was fun too!
I have always loved how encouraging and supportive the running community is. I wanted that atmosphere for our daughter. Running is more about personal goals, being the best you can be in practice and races. I LOVE Running! Tonight I remembered how much I really loved this sport and why:-)
To top it all off, it was a beautiful spring night. Green and flowers as far as the eye could see. Just more of, WOW, Everything is a gift from God moments. It was a great way to end a Monday.
Today for Running, Hills and Beautiful spring evenings…I Give Thanks!
KOR
Here’s a picture of the sunset at the park where we ran tonight!
Today at mass our pastor Father John gave his homily, if I’m honest I don’t really remember most of the homily, probably because I thought it would be about the transfiguration, which was the Gospel today, but that wasn’t his focus. I thought we’d get a homily about how we can all change. Instead, as part of his homily, I heard, “Everything is a Gift from God. Everything.” That phrase caught my attention because just the other day I was listening to Alistar Begg, he’s a pastor whose sermons we listen to, almost daily. He’s not Catholic, in fact, I’m pretty sure he thinks Catholicism is bunk but you know it’s fine by me, we all have our flaws, Ha!
Seriously, Alistar was giving a sermon this week where he was talking about just being grateful for waking up in the morning and looking out the window and seeing a blue sky. It was the same message I heard today from Father John.
When bad things happen its hard to see things as gifts. We had a sad accident happen this weekend. As we were returning home from work Friday we drove into our garage like we always do but we didn’t see our neighbors cat. Sadly, after all was said and done, it didn’t turn out well. Laina and I cried ourselves to sleep. I encouraged her to paint a picture of him the next day so she could have a memory and we printed out a nice picture we had taken of him a few months earlier. We wrote a card asking for forgiveness from our neighbor and took it over the next day. The wife is very sweet and very forgiving. I don’t know that I would be that forgiving but it wasn’t her cat. It was the childhood cat of her husband, who we actually haven’t seen since Friday night so I’m not real sure he’s quite ready to forgive us and I can’t say I blame him.
I was so upset at one point I told my husband he had ruined our entire weekend. Totally unfair and untrue. I prayed that morning that our neighbors would forgive us and then I called my mom, who else would I call? I cried and told her what happened and as moms often do she helped put it all in perspective for me and I felt better after I talked to her. Funny how at 47 years old I still want to have my mom make it all ok.
Anyway, such a sad start to our weekend but when I heard Father John this morning it forced me to look at the weekend as a whole and realize that lots of good things happened too. The weather was amazing, beautiful blue sky for miles, warm, not too hot. I went to a bridal shower for my cousin. Very happy for him. I guess I went to the bridal shower of his fiance but I’ve considered her my cousin for a long time already, such as it is. We had a fun St. Patrick’s Day breakfast with our family and friends. We ate corned beef and cabbage or tri-tip and potatoes, if you preferred, with Irish Soda Bread and other yummy side dishes here and there. We ended our weekend by taking a drive down Sky Harbor Road. If you live in our valley then you know that one of the very best things is our foothills in the spring. Absolutely incredible any spring but with so much rain this year it is a total feast for the eyes! Sky Harbor Road winds around one of our local lakes and leads up to a hiking trail. It was just spectacular, so beautiful, I didn’t want to leave. The amazing thing is it is only like 25 minutes from our house, if that, I love where we live in CA. We can be at any of a number of amazing places in less than an hour and if we want to see the ocean, its’ just a little over a two hour drive. If we want to be in a big city we are less than 3 or 4 hours away, depending on if we go south or north. We almost never want to be in a big city. I don’t think I will ever get my daughter to go back to San Francisco, she was not impressed when we went in January.
I’m off track. My point was behind all these wonderful things was an ache in my heart for the pain we caused our neighbor and it hasn’t gone away. I’m old enough to know it will lessen over time but I’m also old enough to know it will never go away. I hope they forgive us. They are nice people and it would be nice to get to know them better. It was a reminder that we should know them better, that whole Love Your Neighbors thing. It was a reminder that things aren’t permanent and in the matter of less than a second, everything can be changed.
Everything is a gift from God. Beautiful things are gifts from God and sad and painful things are gifts from God too. They both are designed to remind us that we are His. Forgiveness is His greatest gift. We can’t earn that, we can only accept that we have it. It’s called Grace. We can’t force others to forgive us when we’ve wronged them. We can only ask for it, the important part there is we need to ask. The second most important part is to forgive ourselves. We are useless when we wallow in self-pity. We can not “Glorify God by Our Life” when we wallow in self.
We are His creation and He calls out to us, sometimes the call is painful and heart crushing but sometimes, like this afternoon the call is beautiful and heart filling.
I’ve seen deep sadness and brokenness in my own life turned to joy immeasurable, you’d think I’d learned this lesson by now. Obviously not. God’s mercies are never ending and His faithfulness is always true. Our names are carved into the palm of His hands, carved. I am overwhelmed by this truth.
What a crazy weekend. Lows and highs.
For everything God sends to me good and bad…I Give Thanks!
KOR
Here’s a picture of our foothills. They are amazing.
So it’s been Lent for about a week now. Yes, I guess today makes it one official week. Growing up Catholic we always celebrated Lent. I think its kinda cool how other evangelical churches are starting to practice the self-discipline of Lenten sacrifice. My husband said Lent was a foreign concept to him growing up Protestant. When we were first dating he gave up meat with me and I think his family just thought it was the dumbest thing ever, at least that is the vibe I remember getting. When our daughter was 3 or 4 she gave up potato chips and we were out somewhere with his mother and I reminded her she had given up chips. His mom gave me an eye roll. I understand Lent can be a foreign concept to some people and that’s all right. Just because someone else doesn’t understand something I do isn’t really a good reason to stop doing it. As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to believe educating people about why we love God is probably better than rolling our eyes back at them or writing them off. Actually, if you are a Christian, God made it pretty clear you are supposed to share Him with others through loving them, though that can be incredibly difficult at times.
During Lent, if you are Roman Catholic, which I am, we practice, 40 days of , Almsgiving, Sacrifice and Prayer. It’s a discipline designed to have us pause and consider the incredible gift God gave to us in His son Jesus, who loved us so much, He paid the ultimate price for our sins, instead of us. Some people think you can earn your way into heaven by being really good or trying to be. Some people think they don’t need God’s grace, either because they don’t believe in God or because they think just being a good person is “good enough”. The bible is pretty clear both those views are wrong. I’m not a relativist. I don’t believe that some things are true for me but not for others. I believe that Truth exists and you find that truth in the person of Jesus Christ. I believe all people can find truth in Jesus. Back to Lent.
We always practice giving something up but its not so we can get into heaven and it’s not because we are afraid of being punished if we don’t. It is to practice the discipline of self-control. Self-Control is a fruit of the spirit and you can make your self-control stronger by practicing it. Really, lets be honest, who couldn’t use a little more self-control? I know I can! Lent is a great time to practice this gift of the Holy Spirit. So, yes, we usually give up a food item or something we actually enjoy because it helps remind us that these next 40 days are different, they are special. God set them aside for us to remember Him in a special way.
We practice prayer together as a family, sometimes we will say a daily rosary, although we have’t started that yet but we do enjoy attending the Stations of the Cross, which I highly recommend, even if you aren’t Catholic, they are a beautiful prayer, a beautiful way to remember God’s gift and sacrifice. Almsgiving. We try to pay more attention than we might usually to those around us who could use our services somehow, maybe its a visit or a meal, time is really a valuable gift to give to others, so we try to be more open to opportunities during this time and opportunities never fail to show up, whether its visiting an elderly friend or taking a meal to a friend who just had surgery or whatever presents itself.
We also read more. We picked a book to read by Mathew Kelly, The Biggest Lie in Christianity. So far we like it and it has a daily video we watch that goes along with the book.
I really look forward to Lent every year. It’s an opportunity to slow down and really consider how I’m living my life, if my priority is always God or if I just try to squeeze Him in here and there to the bits of my life that I have left for Him. If I’m honest, its more the later.
So that’s Lent in our household. If you don’t practice the discipline of Lent, I encourage you to learn more about it and try it. It’s not about giving up chocolate, its’ about what the giving up represents. It’s not some “hokey religious practice” devoid of any place in a modern world.
Practicing Lent doesn’t make you a “religious” or a “spiritual” person. In fact, I really don’t like it when someone calls me religious or spiritual. It’s become a derogatory description lately. Like I’m somehow less of a person because I NEED a God no one can see or touch. Maybe believing in a God that no one can see or touch, makes me more than one dimensional? If this life is all you are living for, maybe you are the one with the lack of vision and not me? Just a thought…
Practicing lent makes you a person who believes God can do a work in you when you focus on Him and the grace and mercy He has shown us in the gift that IS, not was, but IS His son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. I encourage you to get to know Him, 47 years and I’m still learning about Him everyday, his mercies and grace amaze me everyday.
Thankful Runner Girl 