The Best Photo I Never Took

warning...religious content

The best photo I never took would have required technology that does not exist yet.  If there were technology that could convey love, peace, passion, joy, contentment, awe, spirit, faith, and talent then I would have taken that photo yesterday and you would be moved to tears just like I was.  In that photo would be our family with grandparents, parents and children at Easter Mass.  We sat very close to the choir, the same choir my daughter sang in for many years until balancing work, babies and life ate up choir practice and performance time....for now.  The song being sung during the offertory was Because He Lives... close your eyes and listen peacefully, it is beautiful!

The best photo I never took happened as I watched my daughter, cradle her daughter who was asleep in her arms, as she sang every beautiful word of that song.  She was next to her husband who was holding their son, who was exhibiting his best church behavior (thank you Holy Spirit!), and surrounded by their families.  My daughter loves to sing!  She has an amazing voice and had sung that song many times as a choir member.  The peace and sheer pleasure on her face as she sang and rocked her soon to be baptized daughter brought both my husband and I to tears.  Watching her do something that brings her such joy is like watching an artist at work.  It was the best photo I never took and will be forever etched in my memory as one of the most beautiful moments of this life. 

And it all happened... because He lives. 
Happy Easter!

Hello and Goodbye

This week I had the profound experience of saying goodbye to one life and hello to a new life.  Within one week, a good friend of mine was taken from this world and a baby was born into our extended family.  Life and death, opposite ends of this journey through life.

My friend had cancer, but in the end it was not the cancer that caused her death, it was complications from a fall... an accident.  We all assumed that eventually the cancer would win but it was not at that point yet, so we were all caught a bit off guard by her passing. We were not ready.   If you have gone to church lately, you know that many of the readings have been about keeping alert, staying awake, because we do not know the time or the place when God will come.  "The day of the Lord will come like a thief."  "Watch therefore---for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning---lest he come suddenly and find you asleep."  These words remind us to do our best and live a life pleasing to God.  Our friend lived her life to the fullest, she never let it get her down...for long. She was a force of nature with a raspy voice, who made you feel cared for and had an exuberance that was infectious.  Even if we were not ready, I think she might have been and I am sure she is looking down on us from a much better place...and eating a little chocolate.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a baby boy was born.  One life taken and another given.  A precious, innocent, beautiful little boy was born.  His life is before him.  There is so much happiness and love surrounding him.  So, while the world is less one wonderful woman, it has a new little boy to make us all smile and give us hope.

Welcome to the world Sam!

Blessings and Curses

I found this post in my archives and thought I'd finally share it with you.  It is something I wrote after a sermon I heard.  It obviously made an impression on me.  Since we have Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I might focus on things I am thankful for in my next couple of posts.  Original right?  Then I found this and thought maybe it would be a good way to get into the right frame of mind to be thankful.  I am thankful for all those who have blessed me in my life.


 Have you blessed someone today or have you cursed someone today? 

A blessing can be as simple as seeing someone and noticing them.  By sincerely paying attention to someone we bless them.  Take time to talk to someone... or even better to listen to someone, it is a blessing. You can be a blessing.   Blessings can be simple... notice someone, give them your time and your attention.  Make someone else feel loved and important.  When a parent takes the time to sit down with a child and read a book for the zillionth time instead of doing something else, it is a blessing.  When you are busy doing "important" things and you stop and take the time to really listen to someone without distraction, it is a blessing.  Blessings feed others.

Curses are not necessarily using those words....you know the ones....they look like this sometimes *#@!*.  When a person pulls out in front of you and you yell at them, curses....    When we judge others without knowing them or what is in their heart, curses.  When someone asks you to do something and you ignore them, curses.  When you tell someone to shut up when you are watching the TV, instead of listening to them, might be a curse.  When you think of yourself and your needs above all else .... curses.  Gossip....curse.  Selfish behavior to the detriment of others....curses.  Curses eat away at our soul and at the souls of others, little by little.

Next time you have a chance to be a blessing or a curse, be a blessing.  Make someone's day, and you will be blessed....and they will be thankful.

A Run Down Memory Lane

I took a run this past weekend on a well worn path from my past.  It brought back lots of memories and was just as nice as I remember it being.  If you are a walker or a runner you probably have your favorite routes.  I am a creature of habit when it comes to my exercise routines.  I map out a path of about 3 or 4 miles and have shortcuts for those "easy" days and long cuts for the "challenge" days.  I usually have two or three different routes from my house, wherever that house happens to be.  I have them here in Sugar Land, I had other paths when we lived here last time, I had my routes in Toronto and I had them in Columbus, Ga when we lived there.  They all  hold a special place in my heart because I do a lot of thinking when I run or walk, so it isn't just about the exercise.

This past weekend we were back in Columbus, Georgia.  I found myself drawn to take a run almost as soon as we got into town.  The beautiful fall weather and travelling for 7 or 8 hours might have had something to do with my need to get some exercise!  I got my iPod and drove to one of my all time favorite places to run, Cooper Creek Park.  We used to live a block from this park and I spent many hours walking and running the paths around that park.  I had happy runs, sad runs, cold runs, hot runs, easy runs, challenging runs, wet runs, runs I wish would never end and ones I could not get through fast enough (or slow enough in my case).  I watched my kids run cross country races on those paths.  Wow, it was a very nostalgic trip around the park for me, I must be getting old!  I also had a personal challenge to see if I could make it all the way around the park without stopping, like I used to when I was younger and thinner.....I made it!  Won't say it was easy, but it was not as hard as it could have been.  I cued up one of my old running mixes on the iPod and had an excellent run down memory lane! 

Did I mention the beautiful fall weather?

We visited with old friends and picked up like it was last week instead of a year or two ago when we last saw them.  When you live in one place for 11 or 12 years and raise four children in a small close knit community, you make a lot of friends... close friends.  Thank goodness we still get to visit them every now and then.  And thank goodness they keep welcoming us back!


Indulge me one more paragraph....

We went to mass at our old church this weekend too.  As I knelt and sat, listened, sang and prayed, I found myself thinking of all the masses we attended in that church.  Twelve years of Sunday masses, countless school masses, the occasional daily mass, 3 graduations and baccalaureates, four 8th grade graduations, 4 Confirmations, two First Communions and First Reconciliations, plus weddings and funerals for friends, it boggles the mind!  That is a lot of praying and thinking in one place!  I know there are a lot of people who have gone to the same church for almost their entire lives, do they appreciate what they have?  What a special place that church has in our lives, it saw us through good times and bad.  It was very cool to just sit and think about all of the praises and problems we handed over to God at that church during our time in Columbus.  Amen!

We were more than happy to visit!

My Confession

I have a confession.....I really don't like Confession. 

As I was driving today my thoughts went to our church mission.  (Many Catholic churches have what they call missions during Lent.  The mission usually involves a visiting priest who gives inspiring, thought provoking and spirit renewing talks on several nights during one week in Lent).  I went on Monday night and really enjoyed the talk.  I was thinking about going again tonight and then I remembered something being mentioned on Monday about a Penance service in addition to the talk on Wed. night.  My immediate reaction was...."hmmm, maybe I won't go".  Instead of thinking ....."great, what a good opportunity to cleanse my battered soul", I thought, "run the opposite direction!"  This has been my reaction to Penance, Reconciliation, Confession....call it what you like, since about the 2nd or 3rd grade.  See?  I told you it was my confession.

I went to a Catholic grammar school and we were required to go to Confession every Friday ( maybe it was once a month but it seemed like EVERY Friday to me).  For some reason I could never remember the words you were supposed to say as an introduction or the prayers you were supposed to say.  I remember distinctly going into the haunting confessional box and stuttering and fumbling with the words and being told by the grouchy old priest to go back out and not come back in until I knew the words.  Well.....that was it, I was permanently traumatized.  This is aside from the fact that every Friday I had to come up with my list of sins and they sounded like a broken record to me; I lied, I disobeyed my parents, I was mean to my brother and sisters.....nothing too serious, after all, I was 7! 

As an adult, I know I should get over this.  I've talked to priests about my fear and trepidation over Confession.  One particularly kind priest friend heard my story and told me he would be happy to hear my Confession as we walked outside at a school retreat (I was an adult chaperone) and it didn't matter if I knew the right words or the right prayers, that he would say it all with me and it would be just fine.  What a kind man!  That should have cured me! 

I still find myself with what I consider a trite list of sins which makes me think I am in need of some serious self examination.  Believe me, it is not that I am so virtuous, probably the opposite.  I was thinking about this post and did a little research.  This site is eye opening and worth thinking about, I especially find the chart with the virtues and vices interesting, and the descriptions of the seven deadly sins is good self examination material.  It also makes me think if I do go to Confession tonight that I might be in there for a LONG time!  I need to change my focus and look at this as an opportunity to lighten the load and take it as the gift it is meant to be, instead of the torture I have made it to be all these years.  Maybe this post is just one small step towards that end.

A New Season

This past weekend we attended an all day retreat at our church.  The title of the retreat was Becoming Who You Are.  Don't worry I'm not going to tell you how to be who you are or how I am going to be who I am.  The retreat was a good one and an opportunity to think and reflect.  One of the talks I listened to was about the seasons in the Church, which brings me to today's topic......Lent.  Don't hang up yet....stick with me here, it's Lent.

Lent is the 40 days before Easter.  It is one of the seasons in the Church.  Did you know that Lent is 40 days long but the Easter season is 50 days long?  Did you think it was just one day?  Guess it makes giving something up for 40 days not so bad, if you are going to celebrate for 50 days afterwards.  Just a thought.

Are you giving up anything for Lent?  A question circulating all around this week.  I jokingly said this morning on Facebook that I was going to give up Charlie Sheen for Lent... anything written or spoken by him or about him and we would both win.  Now that I think about it more, it could be a great idea!  Why clutter my brain?  Thinking about things I've given up in the past is an interesting exercise.  There were a few times that I gave up drinking.  It was definitely a sacrifice especially since my significant other did not do the same.  I still remember one time when our pastor found out that I gave up drinking for Lent and he asked, "Why would anyone do that???"  Cracked me up! 

One year after the "give up drinking" years, I decided to be proactive for Lent.  I joined Weight Watchers for Lent.  I had always secretly wished whether I gave up drinking or gave up desserts, that at the end of Lent I would also be about 10 lbs. thinner.  It never happened, guess God did not think I needed to lose weight.  Anyway, one year "I" thought I needed to lose weight and joined WW for Lent.  I can do anything for 6 weeks, so that is what I did.  Now I digress, just hold this thought for a paragraph.

Today at Mass, our priest was talking about Lent and the 3 things we are asked to focus on; prayer, fasting and alms giving.  The fasting part was particularly interesting to me today.  Fasting is a sacrifice of the flesh.  It requires discipline.  There is temptation all around, believe me I know, as I did my grocery shopping today and found a free sample on every aisle that I had to walk past while I was trying to fast.  His point was that when we are fasting we are self disciplined and maybe during this process we become open to other things that might have gone unnoticed.  I like that.

Back to the year I joined WW.  What started out as a selfish venture ended up being a life changing experience.  I found that while being more disciplined about what I ate I was much more productive in the rest of my life.  I was also more disciplined in other areas and felt better.  What started out as a 40 day commitment ended up being my place of employment for the next 8 years.  By giving something up I opened myself to a life changing experience, God had plans for me and I found them by doing something for Lent.

I leave you with this thought.  If you are giving up something or doing something special for Lent, let yourself be open to the new opportunities you find by living a more disciplined life, it is not always a bad thing!