Our focus moves from the inward to the outward as we mingle through this week’s carnival. Barbara at SFO Mom writes about a child’s honest and simple expression leads to a reflection on Trust Me. In Tangible Faith, Penitens at A Penitent Blogger reflects on an important aspect of our faith. In Faith and Life, […]
Yesterday, we helped our oldest child buy her first car. She’s a sophomore in college and the time has come when she really needs one. Plus we are, or at least she is, tired of borrowing the family mini-van. Today, while she was at work, I placed several magnetic ribbons on the back of her […]
I have been thinking lately about forgiveness. I pause when I get to the line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I wonder about past hurts. I have prayed for help to forgive. Only by grace can I forgive. I say the words, “I forgive.” […]
I’m going to try a little experiment with this journal. They are called fragments. To borrow Christine Castro’s word with a slightly different definition: Fragments are “skinny slivers of life sliced and stored”: moments of captured thoughts and words that surprised me because they came out of my mouth, or at least into my head. […]
Doubt provides the friction needed to shape faith. Hope provides the energy. So as Fr. Boeckman always says, “Keep hope alive.”
Any dose of humiliation is a reminder to look toward God, to recognize that we are ultimately powerless and are to live in the first Beatitude of poverty of spirit. Humiliation hurts the little me, the part manufactured by my ego, the me I want to be, the me I thought I was. It does […]
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning, If I lack’d any thing. “A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”; Love said, “You shall be he.” […]
For weeks, this one billboard only said, “I pooted.” We thought it was the oddest thing to put on a billboard. Child #1 had her suspicions. Sure enough, the other night we saw the rest of the sign. It is an advertisement for the Cartoon Network with the cartoon character Cheese from Foster’s Home for […]
Go see The Flash Mind Reader. It’s pretty cool. It really works. But how does it work?
Thanks be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits which You have given me, For all the pains and insults which You have borne for me. Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, May I know You more clearly, Love You more dearly, Follow You more nearly, Day by day. — St. Richard […]
It’s all a matter of perspective—an apple with a worm, or an apple with half a worm.
In fact, what separates man from divine Reality is but a thin partition: God is infinitely close to man, but man is infinitely far from God. This partition, for man, is a mountain; man stands in front of a mountain which he must remove with his own hands. He digs away the earth, but in […]
How refreshing to know You don’t need me How amazing to find that You want me — Casting Crowns, part of refrain of “In Me” Ah! The freedom between the use of the two words, need and want.
Your life is God’s gift to you. You did not earn it. It has been given to you out of pure love. Are you going to enjoy the gift you have been given, and thus honor the Giver? Or are you going to abuse and disrespect your gift, and it’s Giver?
Bob was contracted to paint the old church. To increase his profit a little, he thinned the paint. Just as Bob was finishing up the job and loading up his truck, dark storm clouds quickly appeared. It rained hard for a few minutes, and the fresh coat of paint started to run down the sides […]
Welcome home, welcome home; so far away, so long and so alone. The journey’s not been easy, the road, it seemed so long. It matters not now, child. Oh, welcome home. Hollow dreams, like the desert sand, can shine so bright but slip right through your hands. The treasure you were seeking turned out empty […]
Standing on the beach in North Carolina this evening. Outer banks. Nighttime. Dark. The strong salty air permeates my soul. Everything is shades of dark grays. The waves roar as they break close to shore, immature white caps peak, stretching their energy and water as far as possible over the beach. Then the water gracefully […]