Thirty years ago today. We went to the Virginia State High School Basketball Championships. Anyone who remembers that time will know exactly why I laughed until I cried the first time I heard this song.
It all worked out pretty well in the end, though.
I'm joining the Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday today. I love a creative challenge and I never have time for much more than five minutes on Fridays. Lisa-Jo comes up with the prompt and then, I just need to give voice to five minutes of thoughts.
This week's prompt is I feel the most loved when
I have Mike's undivided attention and I give him mine. In a house this full, those rare golden moments when we can have a long talk and I know he's listening and thinking and I know I'm listening and thinking and no one interrupts and there is nothing electronic between us, I am reminded of all those late night converesations when we fell in love and I'm assured that we're only deeper and richer into that love. Undivided attention alone--that's the most loved.
A close second is when we are surrounded by a crazy bunch of children. When a toddler throws herself into his arms or mine while a four-year-old lisps her latest grand story and someone needs her knitting unknotted and five or so boys are all commenting on some sports call at once-- And I catch his eye above it all and we know that this is ours. All this love, living, breathing, growing into something so big and beautiful it makes my heart nearly burst.
And then, at night, when it is quiet and they have all settled to sleep, and I am in the middle between big, strong man and sweet-smelling little one and she breathes angels on my face, I fall asleep knowing how much God loves me.
The most.
Outside My Window
It is pouring. Raining hard, really dark. I'm praying for safe travels as Mike flies in this storm this morning.
I am Listening to
SportsCenter. Nicky is obssessed with March Madness.
I am Wearing
Black cardigan, white silk shell, black skirt, boots. Wake today.
I am so Grateful for
my eldest son, who understands that to live a life of ministry, of openness to God's call within a family, isn't quite as simple as signing up to do good deeds. It's answering the real life calling and meeting the needs of the people God puts in our lives on the ordinary days. He's made it possible for me to extend myself beyond the norm to do some outreach that would have been impossible without him here.
I'm Pondering
Just these two words He spoke changed my life,
"Enjoy Me."
What a burden I thought I was to carry--a crucifix, as did He.
Love once said to me, "I know a song, would you like to hear it"
And laughter came form every brick in the street and from every pore in the sky,
After a night of prayer, He changed my life when He sang,
"Enjoy Me."
~St. Teresa of Avila quoted by Ann Voskamp in Chapter Eleven of One Thousand Gifts.
I think this is my spring song...
Got that in great detail here.
Christian had to stand outside at the 7PM Mass on Ash Wednesday. The crowd spilled out onto the yard. Isn't that awesome!? People who don't usually go to church, found themselves there last night. I think it speaks to the hope of the human spirit. Lots of people wanting to get Lent off on the right foot; lots of people hoping to grow closer to God before Easter. Maybe even lots of people turning twoards God in the Church for the first time in a long time. Some of the regulars grumbled something about giving priority seating to those who show up every week. I say let them stand outside! Make room, make way, let the newcomers sit right up front. Let them see it all up close. Let them fall in love. And maybe they'll keep coming back again and again. That's certainly our prayer.
I am Creating
Not much this week. I am looking forward to starting to knit my first sweater, just as soon as the yarn arrives.
On my iPod
Towards a Real Education
Lots and lots of reading this week. Mary Beth is playing the teacher role, more or less, and keeping everyone on track rather nicely.
Towards Rhythm and Beauty
Lent began yesterday. I found myself in a flurry in my closet, trying on and discarding clothes suitable to wear to a wake and funeral. My wardrobe is in a state of sorry mess. And it will likely stay that way for a while. My weight and shape are changing in these post baby years. Clothes are tight. Or loose. Money is tight. I compromise. I don't always wear what I wish I'd wear when I go out, whether to Mass or the grocery store, but I remember again, that the disposition of my heart is what's most important. And that a smile is the most beautiful thing I could ever wear. And God whispers again:
To Live the Liturgy...
Liturgy is conversation with God. I'm praying that all my conversations will echo that great conversation.
I am Hoping and Praying
for Elizabeth deHority. She is constantly on my heart and in my prayers. She needs you now. Please, please pray with me. Today is an important day in discerning.
for the soul of Dr. Charles Ubelhart and for the comfort of his family.
In the Garden
rain, rain, rain. Karoline is already dressed in raincoat and boots and off for a worm hunt. Crazy girl loves worms in the rain.
Around the House
We're tied purple ribbons to all our icons and pitcures and cruicifixes. We've hung the stations of the cross in the sunroom where brightly colored artwork hung previously. The purple letters on the mantel spell "repent."
From the Kitchen
Baked stuffed potatoes and salad last night; tomato soup and grilled cheese tomorrow night. Wednesday and Friday days of abstinence...
One of My Favorite Things
Sarah's new insistence that I not only hold her, but I hold my cheek next to hers. I'm gonna miss this.
Sarah Annie this week
She loves to say "Ready, steady, go!" and then run as fast as she can into Mike's arms. he snuggles her up and she alwasy, always says, "I love you, Daddy." Over and voer again.
A Few Plans for the Week
My mother is in town unexpectedly because a dear friend died.
wake today; funeral tomorrow
soccer tournament over the weekend
must settle back into routine next week
Picture thoughts:
BM is for Bryce Mitchell, unofficial patron of Foss soccer.
I'm talking about talking with your kids about God, and Lent, and prayer over at the Catholic Herald today. Please stop by?
In the atrium, right before their first confessions, the children gather with their parents and meditate on the the true vine. It is my favorite of five preparatory meditations. I will never tire of watching the "ah ha" in the eyes of children (and, frankly, their parents) when they see that God is the sturdy vine that supports healthy gowth and He also prunes so that they will bear much fruit.
Lent is a time of pruning. Before the rapid growth of springtime, before the burst of joy at Easter, He prunes. I have been blessed in Lents past. I have been blessed with a gracious God who cares so much for me that He made clear to me what I must do lest I wither and die. Last year, He showed me how to prune away the branches in my life that were keeping me from spending time in Him, from remaining in Him. He showed me that there is a difference between talking about religion and being drawn into the very being of Jesus Himself.
I turned to the timeless prayers of the Church, to scripture, and to the wisdom of the saints of old. I went again and again and again, with the rhythm of a well-practiced monk, to the Liturgy of the Hours. And there, I lingered, remaining in Him. Easter found me clinging to God.
Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.
~G.K. Chesterton
Lent is a gift. A grace. An opportunity. Lent calls us to Him.
Lent is a chance for a Love Dare like no other. It's a chance to let the God prune and then to water us with His grace. It's also a chance to rest in Him, to stop trying to struggle under our own strength and let His love be sufficient be more than enough. It's a time to surrender to the love of God. A woman cannot have a love affair with a stranger. She cannot have a love affair with someone she knows only through the teaching of other people.
In order to be in love with God, she has to remain in Him. But how? How to remain in God? How to know Him so well that she rests in Him, abides in Him? How to be always with God?
To be ignorant of scripture is to be ignorant of God.
~St. Jerome
“The Gospel,” they explained, “is to be understood not as a book or a doctrine, but rather as a person: Jesus Christ, the definitive Word of God, who made himself a man.”
~drafters of the preparatory document of the 2012 Synod on the New Evangelization
To know God as a person--to have a relationship--she must know Scripture. And not just a little, not just as read from the missal. Not just on Sundays. But really, really know it. Know it so well that she rests in it, that it is the background music to her life, every minute of her life. Know it so well that it abides in her and she in it.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you..
I want to breathe the Word of God to the point where I don't know where I stop and He begins.
Have you ever met someone like that? Someone truly united, truly remaining in God? It's an amazing thing to behold. She walks in grace. She blesses with her smile, with her gestures, with her words. She lives the life for which she is created because she is the genuine image of God He intended her to be.
I want that.
So, yes, this Lent is about Scripture, with the sure idea that this is not a temporary Lenten habit but a lifetime habit.
I know that in order to make time for Him, I will have to again prune away those things rob time, waste time. I will have to quiet the voices that do nothing to bring me closer to God and nothing to help me hear Him. And then I will make some conscious choices.
There will still be that Lenten spring cleaning list (For those of you to whom I promised it, I haven't forgotten. An unexpected death this week has our family schedule making way for mourning and funeral. Maybe next week I can share). God will accompany me as I clean. I've downloaded an amazing new audio dramatization of the RSV Bible to my computer and my iPod. I can listen as I deep clean corners, as I fold laundry, as I clear clutter. And if my children happen to be with me, all the better. They can listen, too. I start the day's listening every day with Colossians, because I promised a friend I'd memorize with her and I'm woefully behind where I should be by now. And then, I move on to the Gospels.
I'm focusing on the Gospel of Matthew because that's the Church's focus this year. So, it's Matthew again and again in my listening, until it's a part of me. The children and I are memorizing large chunks of the Gospel of Matthew together, using a simple system. I fully admit that I have exploited the ridiculous competitive spirit in this family to motivate some major memorizing. Whatever it takes. I think this gift of the Word could be the greatest gift we ever give our children.
The books baskets have been stuffed with Bible story books and children's Bibles. And I will make time, several times a day, to read them aloud in unhurried, joy-filled moments with my own dear loves. (I hope to make a list of New Testament story picture books to share with you very soon--feel free to email me with your favorites.)
There are Bibles in nearly every room of my house and we've recently begun to consult several translations and commentaries and a Bible dictionary whenever something comes up in conversation. These moments of discovery are joys with older children.
And then there is that lovely electronic version on my Kindle. A Bible everywhere I go.
Lenten reading this year? Oh, it's so much more than just Lenten reading.
It's Jesus.
The Word of God.
I'm Elizabeth. I'm a happy wife and the mother of nine children. I grab grace with both hands and write to encourage myself and others to seize and nurture the joy of every day. I blog here with my daughter, Mary Beth, a wholehearted young lady on the brink of adulthood.
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