So with only a few weeks to go, I've been talking to my grandbaby already much to the dismay of my daughter who doesn't appreciate when I talk to her child via the womb. Why? Because, and I have to laugh, really hard, when I say, "Hey Baby! Grammy loves you! How are you?" My dear little grandchild begins jumping and kicking her momma like crazy. She is so excited to hear her Grammy's voice! I can't hardly help myself to 'see' her get so excited to hear me say, "I love you!"
But my daughter is less enthused at times especially after a long day of Braxton Hick contractions and the baby stretching and thumping in an ever close binding space. She'll stick her hand out with another hand on her belly and say, "Please, Mom, don't." I just sigh and try to behave. But then the imp in me takes over and I have to remind my own daughter that it was she who permanently bruised my lower right rib by her incessant kicking while SHE was in the womb. I know it's a cheap shot to play, but hey don't I get something? All I want to do is remind my grandbaby I love her even before she is born. "There's plenty of time for that AFTER she's born, Mom," my daughter reminds me. I chuckle and agree. But as she gets ready to leave our house I can't resist one more, "Grammy loves you!" and I wrinkle my nose and smile sweetly at my daughter as she doubles over grunting once again getting kicked in the spleen, "And I love YOU too, sweetie!" 'Thanks Mom, love you too."
Monday, October 30, 2017
Friday, October 13, 2017
Little Ditty
I’ve been playing this song a lot lately. It’s not a song
anyone would really know except its author. But I like it. I like it not because it has wonderful lyrics;
it’s just a melody with no lyrics. I love it not because it’s a beautifully
orchestrated piece of art; it’s a simple melody played on a kiddy piano and ukulele. I love it because of its simplicity. It
reminds me of being a child playing one of those little toy pianos and the ukulele
reminds me of Hawaii, a state I’ve never been too but have heard about and seen
so much in photos.
What this piece of music does for me is lift me up. Hard times seem to come crashing in more and more
these days, worries, anxieties and fears.
And this little simple song reminds me of peace and lightheartedness,
much like hearing that first robin in the spring singing out his lungs because
he’s just figured out how to build his first nest!
It reminds me that I need to rely on Jesus to get through my
day, that I need to forgive those rushing around me from their angry honks,
gestures, weaving in and out of traffic. It reminds me to smile when seeing a
squirrel crossing the road overhead on high wires and actually praying that he
makes it safely.
It reminds me of my children playing in the backyard when
they were young and of me playing in my own backyard when I was young. You can never be too old to remember those
things and smile.
Oh! Yes, and it reminds me to smile. It lifts my eyebrows, moves my shoulders back
and forth and waggles my head. It gives
me inspiration in a world that threatens to scare away all inspiration,
creativity and joyfulness.
That’s why I love this song.
It reminds me of my kids and their playfulness and how I still need to
be playful and fun and happy. Thank you,
little song…for being a very beautiful, inspirational piece of art for the cost
of $1.29 which lifts my soul, makes me hum along, think happy and pray for the world.
‘Make It Shine’ by
Sophonic Media
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Forgiveness
‘Forgiveness is an act
of the will and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the
heart.’ Corrie ten Boom
Have you ever wondered what the difference was between St.
Peter and Judas? Both of them betrayed
Jesus, yet only one sought out forgiveness and became a great leader and
shepherd of the Church. Only one was humble enough to approach the Lord after
the Resurrection and meekly say, “I do believe, Lord.” And Jesus forgave him by
asking him three times, ‘do you love me?’
The power to ask
forgiveness is not talked about much in the news these days. People yell and scream at each other, no body
apologizes. We hurt someone’s feelings,
no body apologizes. People think it’s
their right to say what they want, to kill with words or guns and it’s their
right to free speech to not worry about how it hurts another person. It’s almost like apologizing has become like
a plague we must avoid. It would mean we were wrong, that we have to lower
ourselves, demean ourselves, and God forbid admit we might have been wrong.
Yet when nobody
apologizes, we die inside. Little by
little we become hardened and our souls darken, getting dirtier and it gets
easier to do more wrongs and be more hurtful.
Do we think we have to beg to receive mercy? All Peter did was answer Jesus question, the
same question three different times asked by Jesus. ‘Peter do you love me?’
It does take humility to be forgiven or to ask
forgiveness. It takes even more
fortitude and heart to forgive someone who hasn’t even said they were sorry,
yet Jesus did that too right from the cross. ‘Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do.’
Some people do it
too, without asking for an apology, without closing their hearts. They just
forgive, because that’s what Jesus did. Members
of a church did it in South Carolina. They forgave a man who murdered nine
members of their church community. They forgave
a man who had been so filled with hate that he killed nine people who had
invited him into their bible study group.
Yet he received forgiveness. I am
positive these people in this church were still hurting, still grieving over
the nine lost members, yet somehow they realized that by being like Jesus and
giving forgiveness it would help them to heal.
Do we think we are better than Jesus when we don’t ask
forgiveness, when we don’t forgive someone who has hurt us deeply? Forgiveness is an action that has
ramifications far beyond how it makes us feel. It’s like ripples in a pond when
someone forgives another person. It’s
like the sun shining out following a tornado, or a bright colorful rainbow
peeking out from the storm clouds to signal to the entire world that God is
there and everything is okay. Because
someone forgave, and someone said they were sorry.
Good Will Always Win
As a mother of adult children in these days of civil unrest,
natural upheavals and general mass confusion about what is safe and right in
this world, I find myself turning again and again to our Lord to ask, how do I
help my family and my neighbors to be safe?
How do I help souls get to Heaven?
There is so much
anger and shouting in our country right now, so many tears being shed, so many
lives being upended by natural causes and by a human lack of respect that sometimes I
find myself scared of what each day may bring.
I’ve grown up in a
life of faith, always secure that God loved me.
Sometimes I haven’t understood that even though God loves me, bad things
may happen in my life to me or loved ones, but somehow I still know He loves
me. I know many people don’t feel that
way. Maybe they’ve never been shown the love of a secure family life, had
relatives and friends behave loving and caring. I was truly blessed. As a lover of history, I have read about the beginnings of our
country and other countries. Freedom
always comes with a price. The price is
sacrifice, worry, anxiety and not having things perfect. Politics change, people change back and
forth, good people hurt, bad people get
ahead, but through all of the history of the world, one thing was always
constant: our Creator was always there,
people, maybe not ALL people, but many people kept the light of faith
alive. Sometimes they were killed for
it. Sometimes they were enslaved because
of it, sent to prisons, restricted in some way, but they still lived their
faith. Sometimes they sought out other
new lands or countries to live in and not always found freedom there either.
But they held strong.
The point is, they didn’t give up knowing God loved them.
And we cannot give up that knowledge either.
No one, not some random killer in a hotel room, not a rapist, not gangs
of rioters, angry mobs, underground drug
rings, uncivil and unethical political leaders, no one can take away God’s love
for you and for me. When people ask
where is God when this evil happens, we
need to answer, in those helping during those times. God is in the people running to help those
hurt, to help others escape. God is in the people who remind us that God loves
us, and evil will never win.
Each day I wake and ask God to watch over my family and my
friends. I ask that each of them always feel God’s love for them and I pray
that knowledge helps them in their lives to not give in to believing evil can
win. It cannot. When we give in, evil
flourishes and good people run away instead of running into the fight. We must keep running into the fight each day,
believing and knowing good will always win because God loves us.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Fight Evil; Love Your Neighbor
Evil, that's what is going on in this world and especially right now in our own country. We need to call it for what it is. Totally evil instigated by Satan. But we can fight evil. We can't stop it from happening but we can stop it from hurting our souls by praying and staying close to God. There is a good reason the Blessed Mother is asking us to pray the Rosary every day. It helps us stayed centered on her Son and to focus on God and not our anger. It's hard to not get angry about all the evil that is happening. And while our anger may be justified letting ourselves stay angry does not help anything at all, especially not own souls. We can help ourselves as well as others by calming down and praying. Prayer is the best and most important thing we can do in a crisis. Not all of us are called to be First Responders nor are we in a place where we can physically help. But we ARE all First Prayer Responders.
So remember to Fight Evil by loving your neighbor. Stop the hate and anger. Calm down. Pray for everyone affected by a crisis. And Love Your Neighbor. Pray.
So remember to Fight Evil by loving your neighbor. Stop the hate and anger. Calm down. Pray for everyone affected by a crisis. And Love Your Neighbor. Pray.
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