Tag Archives: life

A worshipful life!

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Why do we try to eat healthy and feed our families good food?  Why do we workout and encourage our families to exercise?

For a long time I was trying to eat well and workout to stay strong, to stay healthy, to avoid heartburn, to live longer and most of all because that it is what people do when they grow up, they begin taking responsibility for their health, it is one of our rules.  Right?

About a year ago things started to change.  I didn’t realize it at first, but my workout was becoming a time of worship and prayer.  It was slowly becoming a time for me to empty my head of myself and think of Him, talk to Him, read about Him and sometimes just be silent and listen for Him.  I was becoming addicted to it not for the endorphins the workout provided, but to the time it gave me with Him.

Without realizing it I brought it into my yoga class.  I started imagining our sweet Love helping me breathe and ease into each position.  I imagined Him gently massaging the areas of tension in my legs and my back and then gently helping me ease out of each move.  I imagined Him sitting with me and holding my hand throughout the meditation at the end.  I have fallen in love with yoga and the precious moments it has given me with Him.

I am not sure why He has given me this Grace, but He has changed the intentions of my workout and my health and I have started calling it my worshipful workout.  He has removed my longing for the goals of this world and He has shown me that even through my workout He can and should be my focus and my end goal.

I am longing to change the intentions of every moment of my life as I care for and love my wonderful husband and my sweet girls.  I want every action to be done with Him in mind, for Him and with the intention of glorifying Him, pleasing Him and bringing a smile to His beautiful face.  I want not just a worshipful workout, but a worshipful life!

I want it this way so that someday when I breathe my last breath, He will be my final thought.

A hidden blessing?

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Do you remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?

Luke 16:19-26

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’

I was washing my hands today in very hot water after cleaning the bathroom.  The water was so hot that I had to take my hands out for a moment and then put them back in to rinse.  I noticed that once my hands had adjusted to being out of the hot water for that moment, it was even more painful to put them back in the water for my final rinse.

This is such an obvious point that we often forget about it.  Once we are adjusted to an extreme, whether it be temperature or a life situation, things become easier, they become more bearable and  more tolerable and then eventually become our normal as we settle in and forgot about our previous normal.

Could this great chasm really be a hidden blessing for those who choose Hades, because in His infinite wisdom He knows their endless suffering would increase exponentially with even one drop of cool water or one grace given from above?

Making it count…

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I am not sure why, but from a young age I was blessed with the understanding that I should make my time spent doing things count.  In school I was never one to goof around while studying.  I never understood this attitude and I always figured that if I was sitting here looking at the book I might as well actually learn the material.  Whenever I went to an exercise class or practiced a sport I had the same thought and I gave it my all during practice without complaint.

I don’t think I have lost this blessing.  I still want to make my time spent doing things count, but now as an adult I am starting to see that I need to worry more about where I am spending my time that counts.

The more I read about Our Blessed Mother, the more I am starting to see my reading as a self indulgence and an excuse to learn more about her rather than really getting to know her.

I am starting to see that I must exchange my reading for prayer and I am feeling a sense of urgency.  I am not sure why this sense of urgency has come over me, but it is here and I must jump in.

My friends, please pray for me as I begin to pray.  I pray that this is not an empty resolution or a good intention that I will not keep.  Instead I pray to make my time in prayer count as I have done in so many other activities throughout my life.  Please join me in prayer and remember me in your prayers.

In His presence…

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Lately all I have wanted to read and learn about are the saints.  Why this insatiable thirst?

Is it because my prayer has been, “Please lead us Home” and my eyes are being opened to the ones who can show the way?

Maybe, but this morning I started wondering if He has opened my eyes for another reason.  Maybe He wants me to know that I know a saint and he wants me to be able to truly see her, see Him, see her, see Him.

Do we know when we are in His presence?  Do we really see Him shining through others? Can we get past the exterior and the good works to really know when He is living in another?

I am not sure that I know when I am in His presence.  I am not sure that I would have known Him, but I want to, I long to know Him.

Despite His Majesty, Glory, Wonder and Power, He is bending down to show me.

Look around my friends…. you probably know a saint too. The saints are here with us, helping us, quietly guiding us.

They haven’t gone straight to heaven, they turned from the open gates because they know that it isn’t truly heaven until we have all made it.  He wants all of us, they want His will… they want all of us.

The first truly will be last as they continue returning to lift up the rest of us!

A great prayer!

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The other day I was helping my daughter out of the shower.  She walked into the open towel and I wrapped it around her.  She started to grab the sides, bundled it up and hugged it close.  I gently tugged on it to free it from her arms so I could rewrap it around her, but she held it tight and looked up at me with a laugh and said, “I am giving my towel a hug and thanking it for keeping me warm.”

I hope I can remember her sweet prayer of thanksgiving for all of the graces shown to me throughout my every day.

Thank you Lord for the blessing of my three sweet little teachers!

Teach me

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  • Teach me Lord to praise You as the trees do, with their arms stretched wide day and night in praise of You.
  • Teach me Lord to be as flexible and changeable as the clouds as they move and change day and night guided by Your will.
  • Teach me Lord to be as humble as a grain of sand that knows without it’s presence the desert or the beach is not greatly changed, but gratefully realizes that it’s presence is required for the desert or the beach to be complete in Your plan.
  • Teach me Lord to be as reflective as all the waters of the earth so that I might reflect Your majesty back to You.

Thank You Lord for all of the ways you teach us!

The Cross

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Isn’t it amazing that if you are looking for a cross you can find one?

Look at a door, the beams on your ceiling, a window, telephone poles, electric poles, fences, bridges.  They all contain a cross within.

I think our sweet Jesus died on the Cross so that as the years went by and generations passed, reminders of His love for us would surround us.

Through it I think He is whispering, “Remember Me, I love you.  Don’t worry about what she said, what he said, what they did, or what you didn’t do, just think of Me and smile through your tears.”

Her story…

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I told you a few weeks ago about my newly found love for Mary.  I have been thinking about her a lot and wanting to know her more and know her story.

Tonight as I was conquering the mountain of laundry that has piled up since school let out for summer, I decided to watch the first part of a movie that has been sitting in my queue for a while, Mary of Nazareth.

First of all, let me tell you that I love it and I will be watching the second part very soon.

While watching it I realized that maybe we can know more of her story through His stories, by looking deeper into the parables of The Gospel, and then imagining how these parables might translate into her life, her childhood, her memories and her thoughts that she shared with her sweet and blessed son, Jesus.

Imagine for a moment Mary’s wedding celebration.  I had never done this before, but it was vividly depicted in this movie.  Her parents prepared a feast to celebrate their daughter’s wedding, but no guests came.  Their neighbors looked on with disgusted judgement refusing to attend while Mary, Joseph and her parents sat alone.

Now imagine what might have happened next.

What if Mary stood up, reached for Joseph’s hand and together they walked through the village inviting everyone they found to join them in celebration?

Does this sound familiar?  Check out Matthew 22 and Luke 14:15-24.

Maybe some of her story is buried deep His parables.  Maybe we just have to read The Gospels again from yet another perspective to find her story.

I think it is time to start digging deep again my friends!

Melting…

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This morning I woke up and remembered that it was our anniversary!  As I gazed at my sleeping love, he woke up, gave me a smile and then for a moment he became lost as he gazed into space.

I didn’t want to interrupt his waking moment, but I thought to myself as he became lost in thought… only God knows where he is right now.

In that moment, with that thought, I wanted to melt into our one true Love so that my husband and I could be lost together in His infinite ocean of love.  

By losing ourselves or melting into Him we are not lost, but instead find His buried treasure of knowing each other even more deeply. This hidden treasure is wonderful, but even it falls short of a deeper secret waiting for us.

I long to long to lose myself for Him alone.

The land of milk and honey…

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About two weeks ago the men who mow our lawn told me that they thought we had a bee hive in our yard.  They led me through the front yard to the city water access which is located in a hole in our front yard and sealed with a black cover.  We stood there for a min and watched as 3 to 4 bees squeezed into and out of the hole in the cover every few seconds.

My first thought was, ARGH… who do I need to call to get rid of these bees?   A few min later I came to my senses and remembered the multiple documentaries I have seen on the tragic subject of the disappearing honey bees.

Within an hour I had a bee jacket, a smoker and a hive box in my Amazon shopping cart!  I was so excited… I had decided that I was going to attempt to domestic this hive and begin raising honey bees!!!  I started reading about transferring hives and looking into beginner classes for raising honey bees.  I couldn’t wait to share the good news with my sweet honey when he came home from work so that I could finally press the “Purchase” button on Amazon.

Well don’t get too excited… I am not raising honey bees.  My husband came home and reminded me of his very serious allergy to honey bee stings, he does swells up pretty badly.

So… I called our pest control service to schedule an appointment.  Since they were already scheduled to come about a week and a half later, I told them that it would be fine to take care of the bees at the same time.

During that week I tried to convinced a friend to transfer the bees to a bee box and begin raising them herself.  I unknowingly picked a pretty likely candidate because during our conversation I found out that her brother actually raises honey bees a few states away, but unfortunately even though she was excited at the idea it didn’t work out.

Then I started wondering if I should look into calling some actual bee keepers who might be interested in attempting to transfer the hive, but as usual the time got away from me and the pest control appointment day arrived before I called someone else about the hive.

I led the man from our pest control service to the box and we watched it for a min and did not see any bee activity.  We did see a few flies, but other than that nothing.  He then asked me to step back while he popped open the cover and jumped back.

We found a dead hive.  The hole in the ground was filled with water from the rain two days before and the hive had drown.  There were tons of bees floating in the water and five soggy honey combs attached to the black cover.

The bees are dead, we have no honey here my friends, but I will keep that sweet honey in mind to help me remember where we are going and to help me stay on course so that someday I will arrive home to the land of milk and honey.

Keep Him in mind always and look for Him every where!