Category Archives: Lessons

The hole in the roof

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Photo credit

This is a repost from my former blog (no longer available…thanks to apple’s “re-do” and nixing their blog template…whatever.  It is from 2 years ago and this gospel is truly one of my favorites.  I’ve been blessed with tremendous friends (and family) and though distance separates me from my besties, I am fortunate to have a few where I am now.  However, the friends you raise your babies with, the friends who hold your hand and let you soak their shoulders with your tears during your darkest days, the friends who speak the truth when it’s the last thing you want to hear, the friends who watch your children, feed you, clean your house and drive with you through a most difficult season in your life……those friends have a forever place in your heart.  Today’s gospel reading makes me think that the paralytic’s friends hold a forever place in his heart.

This morning’s Gospel Reading is from the book of Mark, Chapter 2.  The story of the paralytic who is lowered through the roof by his friends in order that he could be healed by Jesus.  I’ve heard the story many times and today I am struck by so many details.

The crowd was so big the friends could not get close to Jesus.  So, I wonder, “How did they get on the roof?”  If the crowd was so large, did they go to a nearby house and “roof hop” until they were on the right one?  Many of the houses of that time would have been close together.  Was it right next door or 4 houses down?

And their friend, who was paralyzed.  They bring him along the entire way, on a mat.  What is that mat like?  An oversize sling?  A makeshift stretcher with poles to help carry?  Is he holding on for dear life or resting in the anticipation that he just KNOWS these friends are doing him the favor of a lifetime?  Because if he eventually comes DOWN through a roof, he clearly has gone UP on a ladder or stairset and that can’t be easy on anyone, much less a paralytic on a mat.

And the hole itself.  The above image is how I imagine the roof to be.  Now is that roof really strong enough for FOUR men AND their paralyzed friend to stand on while they MAKE A HOLE THROUGH IT?!?!?!?  I mean it is basically sticks thatched together for crying out loud!   And then……..the lowering of the friend!  OH MY!!!  The mess that clearly made.  Was Jesus right under it while straw and roof bits were sprinkling down on him, in his hair or eyes?  Did He calmly continue along with his healing and then just greet the paralyzed man or did He stop and watch the situation play out silently cheering them on in their plan?

How about the people around Jesus waiting for healing of their own?  Clearly there were many, because the men could not get through.  Were they put out?  Thinking, “Hey! We were here first!”  Grumbling amongst themselves?  Or were they in awe of such a crazy plan and kicking themselves that they had not come up with it themselves?

It’s just an amazing story.  And I think of all my friends who have led me through impossible situations, making a hole where there seemed to be no way in and showing me Jesus.  So patiently waiting.  So ready to heal.  And I am overwhelmed with gratitude and tears at the lengths they have gone through to get me here.  And I am up from my own mat, in sight of all the people and we can all praise God, “We have never seen anything like this.” Mark 2:12b

Because sometimes we have to make the extraordinary effort to reach Him.  The One who heals.  The One who patiently waits.  The One who applauds the hole in the roof, mess and all.  And sometimes we get there with the extraordinary measures of those special friends He brings into our lives.  The ones who have carried you through the crowds.  Up the ladder.  Cleared a path, and lowered you through the roof, right to the feet of Jesus.  WOW.

What a way to start the day.  Praise God for His patience.  Praise God for His Love!  Praise God for the friends He brings to our lives.  Praise God for every day we have the opportunity to live out our lives glorifying Him.

Starting over on a Tuesday…

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That is so wrong!!  Everyone knows all new things start on Mondays.  Yet, we bring in 2013 on a Tuesday this year thus causing a conundrum of when to begin new habits, etc, etc, etc….Tuesday or the following Monday?  In all reality, it doesn’t really matter, does it?  Today is January 1, 2013, like it or not and the day will come and go whether we have “New Year’s Resolutions” or not; so….no time like the present, eh?

Last year, my plan for 2012 was:

  1. Eat healthier/exercise more….pretty much #1 on the list EVERY year and one year I will actually succeed.  “You never fail until you stop trying” Albert Einstein  And try, try again I will.  In reality, I did succeed at this, I’ve made MUCH healthier choices in my diet and have tried many new exercises, just haven’t succeeded in actually losing weight–however, I never said losing weight was my goal.  I shall mark this up to a success.
  2. Have more Quiet time.  My quiet time has evolved.  Hubby and I have been reading the Catechism with Flock Note and discussing it every few weeks.  I’ve been to Adoration more frequently and my spiritual reading has picked up with Choosing Joy by Dan Lord and Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  Both books are great for one chapter at a time to mull over and ponder.  I shall mark this up in the success column as well.
  3. Finances.  Clueing in Hubby and getting on the same page.  Done.  While we haven’t climbed completely out of the hole yet, we’ve stopped (so far…) the continued addition to debt and have begun backing up the train with a good plan to head into 2013.  Aaaaaand a 3rd success.  Of course, we will continue this journey together and I’m sure Dave Ramsey will be involved at some point (I hear what he’s saying but I just don’t know if I’m ready to jump in just yet), or not, Hubby’s pretty good at $stuff, either way…2012 was a good start, 2013 will be solid…I feel it.

Mentally, I really thought 2012 was a big fat FAIL on the resolutions, however, looking back I see that I actually succeeded in what I set out to do.  Sweet.

Heading into 2013 I’ve been mulling over my Goals/Resolutions/Plan for a couple of days and have also come across a few great ideas I may incorporate into reaching my own success in 2013.

Jennifer Fulwiler gives an analytical view of reviewing one’s “areas for improvement” and how to problem solve those areas.  I honestly never gave it a thought as to WHY I might not be succeeding in certain areas.  Seems so logical, I’m a little embarrassed.  Only a little though.

Jon Acuff gives a man’s view (but truly EVERYone can use this method) of breaking the year into smaller bites and attacking each goal one at a time within those small bites.  Brilliant and so realistic…I CAN do anything for 52 days.

Ann Voskamp challenges us to look for the Joy in everything and TO WRITE. IT. DOWN.  Finding 1000 Joys in 2013.  Even a chance to win a camera at the end of the year.  More importantly, Ann tells us that in focusing our eyes and heart on Joy we are certain to reap the rewards of:

1. a relative absence of stress and depression. (Woods et al., 2008)

2. progress towards important personal goals (Emmons and McCullough, 2003)

3. higher levels of determination and energy (Emmons and McCullough, 2003)

4. closer relationships and desire to build stronger relationships (Algoe and Haidt, 2009)

5. Increased happiness…. by 25% — (Who wouldn’t want 25% more      happiness!) (McCullough et al., 2002)

After all that…what are YOUR resolutions?  Or do you just opt out and chalk it up to another day on the calendar?

As for me, my focuses for this year are:

  1. Losing weight.  Hubby has agreed to help me  and so with his help, our P90X library and various other weights and miscellanea I’m ready.  I mean, sheesh, the baby will be 10 this year for crying out loud!!
  2. Spiritually to be more Joy-focused and applying it to how I live my life, my marriage, my parenting and so on.
  3. Learn to use my REAL camera more efficiently and Photoshop Elements…which has been on my computer for 2 years and I still don’t have a CLUE what to do with it.  It’s time.  I love my iPhone but my real camera rocks.

Blessings and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

 

WIWS Vol.7…and some thriftin’..

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You can blame it all on Emily and Kendra @ Fine Linen and Purple.  Sunday has become the Mass Fashion show….raising the bar on how we present ourselves in Jesus’ house, how we prepare ourselves mind, body and spirit for Mass and snapping some photos along the way.

Warning, soap box moment:  Once upon a time dressing for Mass was dressing in one’s Sunday best and there wasn’t even a second thought or argument about it; these days its anything goes (and in our warmer climate…believe me…ANYthing goes).  On the one hand, we should just be grateful people are PRESENT for Mass and disregard their dress (maybe pray that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to their cleavage bearing/thong showing/ripped jeans/flip-flop selves); however, there is the just-coming-from-work-and-straight-to-Mass-dress and there’s just-popping-by-Mass-before-I-hit-the-beach-club-BBQ-dress. Big difference.  This is where this lovely little link-up comes in….a way to remind us to take the time in all areas to properly prepare and present ourselves for Mass, time spent with Our Lord, one measly Hour completely His and to give Him the respect He is due.  Ideas borrowed from other women and men and encouragement in taking a little extra time with our appearance.  Stepping off the soapbox now….

Submitting my little collage…trying out a new app…of the girls and I ready for Mass.

Untitled

skitched-46-1Deets:  Collage, meh…not loving it so much so I gave you the bonus head-to-toe shot so you can get a little better look at that animal printy shirt…Rarrr…

Shirt: Kohl’s, few years ago, Pants, Christmas gift years ago, Shoes: Kohl’s

Necklace and earrings: gift from my girls a while ‘go

Ring: Lia Sophia fave

Mini-mes:  Sporting yesterday’s thrifty finds, dresses AND shoes…and a sweet little Christmas necklace on the Diva daughter.

Blessings, y’all…We are off to do nada…or maybe hit the movies…

Friday…and all mixed up!

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With Christmas and New Year’s falling on Tuesdays it is really wrenching my brain on what day it is….Off 2 days, work one, off one, work 3, off 2, repeat…what?!?!  It will take me until mid or end of January to get straight.  Sheesh.  Thank goodness I have the day/date feature on my watch to keep me straight…Gotta love the 20+year old Seiko, baby!

However…let’s cut to the chase.  It’s Friday.  Joining in with Jen and the humongous throng o’ bloggers doing the end of the week “7 Quick Takes” so jump on over and check ’em out…it’s always fun and interesting and good for hours of screen time…no joke!!  Without further adieu…here I go:

  1. Christmas was GOOD.  You can refer to this post for the deets, but overall, somehow the chaos felt “manageable” this year, less rushed, time to enjoy each other.  A win for us.
  2. My mom is home from the hospital post surgery for her Christmas Eve fracture (see #1 insert for the dirty…), so now she just needs to manage the walker, the snow, the dogs, getting around, getting ready to host her daughter and 2 grand-daughters in a few weeks and potentially re-plan her trip back to the Sunshine State or learn to drive in a boot….tricky.  Time will tell.  Drink lots of milk, Mom!!!
  3. Colds stink.  Hubby has one.  (far worse than mine…go figure).  Hopefully, the kids are immune since they’ve all had their opportunities at being sick this past month.  So cough, sniffle, blow, repeat….Chicken soup is on the menu.
  4. In TV news January 6 is a BIG, BIG day….(and I’m really just NOT a big viewer of the tube, but…..) I have a couple of favorites and the best is that JANUARY 6, 2013 DOWNTON ABBEY RETURNS……I’m so excited.  So is Hubby.  (maybe not all CAPS excited, but excited)  In anticipation, we’ve been rewatching some of Season 1.
  5. Once Upon a Time ALSO returns January 6!!!  What???  Our girls think Hulu is playing tricks on them and holding back…they are going to flip out when they find out they have ANOTHER week to wait!
  6. Biggest Loser returns WITH Jillian (sailor mouth) Michaels on January 6!!  ACK!!!  The girls and I love this—Hubby and the boys can’t take all the tears and boo hooing….personally, it coincides with my annual giving up of food and another effort at losing the baby weight (the baby is now 9—you do the math).  Exciting!
  7. And that’s all I got folks….my stuffy head is ready for bed and hope this winter cold nonsense hits the flippin’ road.  And I mean soon!

Blessings and don’t forget to visit Jen et al.

It’s the end of the world/week…whatev…

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Even though it’s Saturday, I figured I’d go ahead and jump in with Jen and her crew for the

— 1 —

Clearly the world didn’t end.  My son says they found another Mayan calendar dating to 3025.  I haven’t had time to research his claim, but clearly THAT explains it…or the whole Matthew 24:36  “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. “  Yes, apparently even the Mayans didn’t know…

— 2 —

I FINALLY watched Minor Revisions this week.  Episode 1 AND 2.  All in the same night.  The best part was that Hubby watched, also.  He NEVER watches TV.  Ever.  Thinks TV and Technology are the downfall of society.  Books are the best.  And yet….he watched.

— 3 —

Our youngest had yet ANOTHER round of strep this week.  Guess we’ll be paying a visit to the ENT this coming year.  Joy.

— 4 —

Our youngest son clearly jealous of his sickly sister, decided to pull a “complications from the flu 2 weeks ago” stint and develop an ear & sinus infection with diminished lung sounds the next day.  Translation:  not contagious, on antibiotics and an inhaler=much better.  Adding to the stress of finals week.

— 5 —

Mama’s spidey senses peaked on our son’s health the same night we were to go to our church’s reconciliation services.  Hubby took the rest of the gang whilst son and I trekked to the Pediatric After hours.  Translation:  He and I will make a visit to reconciliation this afternoon.

— 6 —

I am reaching my annual “officially OVER food” quota that generally accompanies December and the glut of goods brought into the office, luncheons and my desire to bake and share.  Perhaps Santa will bring me some willpower for Christmas.  Although Hubby did promise to “help me out” after Christmas…y ‘all pray for me and our marriage on that one, K?

— 7 —

On that last note, I am lacing up the kicks for a quick walk since we aren’t covered with snow in our area!!  And then off to Publix for our supplies for our (8th?) annual “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” luncheon with my grandparents!  More food.  And quality time.  So that surely balances, no?  Blessings!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!