What's it all about???

An awesome email today from my mother-in-law on avoiding that sometimes unavoidable panic mode:
I just wanted to tell you that reading the note in Lucca's Bible started my day off beautifully. I was fretting the business of today -- the sheer busy-ness of today... (The reason I was up at 5:35 a.m. ? PANIC and it's still dark out!)

Too much to do - too little time to do it (all from my volunteering to do yet one more thing!!!). Like offering to decorate the rectory SOMETIME and getting a voice mail yesterday that Father would like it done before Monday since he is hosting a Christmas party for a group of priests on Monday!!! Yikes, I already have a jam packed weekend, complete with two funerals!!!

I read the blog -- I have calmed down -- it's going to get done... An e-mail has gone out to the gals in my Bible study that anyone interested in helping please meet at the rectory on Saturday morning at 11:00. (But now I have to make sure someone will be there to let us in. It's the old horse before the cart syndrome.)

I need to slow down... "Come Holy Spirit..."

I don't have to be at everything, I will miss the funeral Mass tomorrow and go to the viewing tonight. I can decorate my condo and tree sometime next week, I can take Morgan and James shopping next Saturday instead of this Saturday... Laundry, dusting and any household chores can wait for another time! And I shouldn't have to miss the party Saturday night!

Whew, okay Lord... together -- with the help of friends -- we can do this!

Yes, it's all about Jesus -- precious, beloved Jesus!

It feels good to put CHRIST back in CHRISTmas!

God bless, Mom

And a child shall lead us...

I honestly had no idea how I was going to salvage a post from the wreckage of today but God (as always) and my son and my niece provided...

I won't bore you with all the trivial details but the quick laundry list of today: a field trip on which I was an unwelcomed embarrassement to my teenager; a disagreement and subsequent run-in with a teacher that has me deeply vexed; three caterwauling children who, fighting over the front seat, performed a reality TV show (we'll call it "SMACKDOWN!") in the soccer stadium parking lot; a quarrelsome, out-of-sorts trio who had me clutching my head through some tricky traffic all the way home. Etc, etc, etc.

I wondered where the silver lining was? (But was heartened to know that I knew there was one!)

I managed to wrangle all to bed and spent a little extra reading time with the two youngest trying to calm and reconnect. When I walked in to my middlest's room I was surprised (and yet not, the silver lining was due after all) to find him reading his favorite bible. It is a very special book to him. My niece gave it to him for Christmas after her mission trip to Africa and before her mission trip to Thailand. Just the simple cover alone, soft leather-sheen embossed with a deep brown crown of thorns, is enough to put it all in perspective. But it was Abigail's words on the sweet letter she wrote him with the gift that brought me right back to center. And God's words, which Lucca and I shared, have me fortified for another day ahead.

Abigail, thank you again for sharing your faith with Lucca. I hope you don't mind that I am sharing some of what you wrote him with others here so that they in turn might be encouraged to turn to God's word in need!

Dear Lucca, I know you like reading so I bought you a very important and special book. It has stories about battles, princesses, espionage, friendship, betrayal and forgiveness. Most importantly, it is a love letter. This is the most life-changing book you can read. It is so controversial that it is illegal in dozens of countries so know that you are privileged to be able to freely own and read this book. It is my favorite book. It is one of those books that needs to be re-read over and over. Read it daily. Memorize it. The message that it brings is what life is all about! That message is that Jesus came so that the world might be saved. Look for the story of the cross, starting in Genesis. Remember the cross so that we can learn it is always all about Jesus. Love, Abigail

A little long, a lot worth it

My Dad always loved the flashmob videos and would often say he hoped to see one live in his lifetime. How glad are we that we staged a flashmob of carols and dancing in the middle of Christmas dinner two years ago -- to his great delight? He would have loved this one too! (Thank you to my mother-in-law for sharing and God Bless our military.)

Make straight the path....

Did I tell you my college roommate is a photo phenom? This picture, "Sunset Silhouette," is another spectacular shot from Nebraska. Typing this up as I'm enjoying a pretty nice sunset live out my back window! Pretty doggone amazing gift we get twice a day from God, eh? I don't think any other blather from me is necessary... enjoy the beautiful view....

Advent reconciliation

Our priest at church yesterday, Fr. Buddy, drew an amazing parallel between the following verse and Nelson Mandela...

[Matthew 3: 1-12] John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

This is one of my favorite descriptive verses -- can't you just see sand for miles and miles, with a terribly crooked footpath rutted deep by nomad travelers and camels? But to the point... one of the most important parts of waiting for Christmas is preparing our hearts for its coming. And sometimes an unclean heart needs to seek forgiveness. Or accept forgiveness from another. What an appropriate gesture for the season, the gift of forgiving.

And what an incredible example we have in Mandela when it comes to the ultimate sacrifice in forgiving transgressions. But there is a dark side to this tale. Fr. Buddy reiterated what I am ashamed to say I am just learning through news coverage of Nelson Mandela's death. Mandela did not always seek the straight path. Before prison, though he tried for years, he had given up on nonviolent attempts to stop apartheid and was involved in various sabotage plots, hoping to limit deaths but disrupt the racist government. He was jailed 27 years for his revolutionary schemes.

While the struggles continued after he left jail, what is most important is that he forgave. And that South African leaders stepped aside to allow him to lead and decided to work in conjunction with him, thus beginning one of the most tremendous rightings of wrongs in all of history.

I am trying to picture 27 long, mostly unnecessary years in prison and whether or not I would be conciliatory mood upon my departure. Exactly the kind of stretch, the sort of sacrifice, the making straight the paths that Matthew is instructing us to do this Lenten season.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

Autumn on the bayou

Fall is my absolute favorite season. Last year, for our first fall in Louisiana, I was woefully unprepared for how little color they get around these parts. Not a whole lot of deciduous trees in the swamp.... The season came across as rather crispy brown and I felt myself grow a little moldy around the edges as well. This year I was ready for it. And have been wonderously rewarded with the subtle beauty that only comes from a wet climate. In addition, all the celestial bodies and weather patterns that need to align for the leaves to change have obviously come together to bring me some yellows and even those beloved reds this year, too.

And finally, with this awesome live oak in my front yard, I don't need to look for my colorful leaves. Georgia friends and lucky mountain dwellers, enjoy the vivid show for me, but this year I'm okay. I have greenery to keep me company and surround our home the whole year through.



Tree view from the kitchen table -- great for digestion!

Not so silent night....

Found the two youngest arm in arm singing Silent Night 'round the computer (where I'd put carols on to play). One of those beautiful, little things like Anne talked about yesterday -- very little in fact because just moments later, the slow waltz had morphed to loud drums, the decibels had tripled and they were stomping the ground screaming "Fight! ! Fight! ! Fight! !" to the beginning of AC/DCs "I'm TNT (Dynamite)." Well, we take what we can get, right? (I've never much liked the saying "Boys will be boys" because I feel like it can be an excuse for bad behavior, but in this case, what else can explain the quick transition?)

It's the little things

Thank you Anne Mistretta for today's entry. You have always supported this blog both with great entries and with words of encouragement. You were the first back on board this year and I sure appreciate you!<

This bird house has been perched on our fence for several years waiting for the momma bird who would call it home. I don't notice it much anymore as it just seems to be a part of the fence now. However, my daughter took the picture recently and the thought popped in my head, "I wonder if that is what the stable was like where Jesus was born?"

The thought kind of caught me off guard. How many of the little, unassuming things do I miss everyday as they "blend into the scenery" but might really be the important things? How many people walked past that stable and never had a clue that they had a chance to be part of the greatest love story ever!?

A reminder for me this Advent and this coming year to be looking for the small things.

Come Lord...

Today's words of wisdom come to us from Brother Ray Bulliard, the principal of St. Paul's Boys' Catholic School down the road from us in Covington, Louisiana. Brother Ray writes a weekly newsletter for students and families that is legendary around here... many friends tell me they get up at the crack of dawn every Sunday, brew a cup of coffee and sit down at their computer to soak in the message which has magically arrived overnight. Having recently started reading them myself, I can see what the fuss is about. His words of Advent greeting this week are simple and beautiful.

Let me begin by wishing you Happy New Year! We begin the month of December celebrating the season of Advent – which is the beginning of the new Catholic Church year -- a time of waiting. Advent commemorates the centuries of our awaiting the Messiah. Catholic families put out Advent wreaths, the priest wears purple vestments, and Jessie trees spring up – all to remind us of the season of waiting for the "fullness of time."

I like Advent. I know I’m in the minority here, but I find it a very human season. I know, too, that our students don't like Advent because they don't like the concept of waiting. They routinely grumble about waiting in the cafeteria line, about how far away a particular event is that they are looking forward to, etc. Somehow, in our instant gratification society that emphasizes getting what you want as quickly as possible, patience is no longer promoted as a virtue. In a world where we upgrade to faster computers, buy faster Internet access, text and tweet instead of talk, deliver overnight, buy faster cars, patronize establishments that offer "lunch in ten minutes or it's free" and emphasize that time is money, our students no longer know how to wait. And yet think about how much time we do spend waiting: in store lines, in traffic jams, for the check that's in the mail, for a happy time to occur or a difficult time to end.

Think about your child and how much time you have spent and continue to spend waiting for him: to be born, to learn to talk, to take his first step, to develop his talents, in the car pool line, to come home from a date, to see the importance of grades, to learn to appreciate family and life, to mature.

Advent teaches us to turn times of waiting into times of grace. At the beginning of Advent, at Tuesday’s assembly, I will remind the students of one of the oldest prayers in the Church. It consists of just one word: Maranatha, which is Aramaic for "Come, Lord.” If we can fill our time of waiting with God's presence, then the whole concept of patience will take on a new and more fulfilling meaning. What a wonderful way to fill periods of waiting! Use it as a greeting, too. Your spirits will be renewed and your time of waiting will be filled with blessing.