I Will Never Drink Wine Again!

That is truly exaggerating because following this incident I did drink wine...and a lot because my nerves needed it.
   It all began as a normal Monday...well it wasn't really normal because I don't usually drink wine when I get home from work on Mondays. I wait at least until Wednesday.   This Monday however I had already had a long day at work and  I had just finished loading up my mini van full of items that had been sitting around my house waiting to go to the thrift store for weeks. I was tired of stumbling over them and pushing them around so I just filled my van and took off.
    I got back home, happy with myself that I had finally quit putting off that job and grabbed my phone, dialed my mom and walked into the semi darkness of my dining room to pour myself some wine.  As I talked with mom about my day, I grabbed a stemless glass from the dry sink that had been sitting out in the open for several weeks. I thought I maybe should have rinsed it out since our house is a dust magnet but I was so tired I didn't care about a little dust in my glass.  I swear I could hear the opening notes of the Jaws movie theme begin in my head at that moment and a little voice in my head say...hey those glasses sitting there are for decoration, not to actually use without washing.  But lately with a grand baby around I had begun to get a little overly conscientious  of dust and dirt everywhere to the point my daughter was pleading with me that it was healthy for kids to ingest a 'little' dust and dirt throughout their lives. In other words I was driving her nuts with, "don't put her down yet I haven't dusted and wet mopped the floor yet!"
  So I told myself as I poured wine in the semi darkness, stop worrying about some dust and enjoy the wine.  I walked around the house getting things ready for supper, sipping wine and winding up my conversation with my mom.  I put down the phone and  as I took one more sip before I began supper preparations I felt something lumpy in my mouth.  Yuck, there really must have been a dustball in that glass. Just as I spit the mouthful of wine into the sink my husband walked in the door and heard me scream.
    The lumpy thing in my mouth hadn't been dust. It was a spider and there it was in the sink. And it wasn't one of those little bitty spiders either!! It was big!!!!  I have a witness!!
   I screamed and screamed, kind of like Lucy did when she met Snoopy's lips while bobbing for apples, but this was worse. I had had a spider in my mouth; my mouth!!!! Was I going to die? Did it bite me?  Quickly I tried to figure out if it had bitten my tongue or cheek and in a panic asked my husband what to do.  "Take a swig of whisky!"  He told me and I grabbed his bottle of whisky and swigged right out of the bottle swishing it around in my mouth then spit it out into the sink too.
  Still screaming I told him, "I can't believe I drank a spider!  Ack!"
  He tried to calm me down but knew better than to pat me on the shoulder and tell me it would be okay. He just listened without laughing until I had finally calmed down enough to stop screaming and was just shuddering from the grossosity of it all. A spider had been in my wine glass! A spider! What the heck was it doing in there?
   I started supper preparations again and was able to get through without any more screaming at the horribleness.  But even now I shudder when I remember the feeling in my mouth.  My son laughed at me and told me it would have been extra protein. I don't think so. My husband assured me it was most likely dead when it fell into the glass.. or would have drowned when I poured in the wine.  Other family members were aghast that I didn't see the stupid thing in there while taking four or five sips before almost ingesting it.  I don't understand that either. I was tired, but I wasn't comatose!!
  For now, I've switched brands of wine because the taste of my favorite wine in the whole world was totally ruined by that stupid spider!  And I am drinking wine again...but carefully...very carefully...

Master of Our Ship

How many times have you thought about asking God for a solution to a problem then found yourself trying to solve all by yourself?  It seems to be an unending journey of self-discovery in faith when we know we cannot run our lives by ourselves yet pride, forgetfulness, and hurry-up-and-go gets us going in the wrong direction.

The Church is quick to remind us of how much we need meditative prayer, whether it be sitting and listening in the quiet of the Lord’s presence or praying the Rosary or other prayers.  Why so much emphasis on quiet meditation?  Because that is when we really hear the answers God has for us.

For many years I have taught Confirmation classes to our high school students and for that last several years I decided to take time out of our two hour block of class time and have the whole class go over to church and sit before the Blessed Sacrament for fifteen minutes.   It amazed me how much the teens enjoyed this time and were disappointed if we didn’t make time to go.  I realized that they need mediation time maybe even more than we adults do. They have so much going on in their lives, decisions to make, choices, school work, family issues, friends, peer pressure good and bad.  That time they spent in church gave them an excuse if you will to sit and listen. 

We as adults need that time too though. We think we are superheroes taking care of our families, working one or two jobs, socializing with friends or people in our community, or church.  We forget that we need that one on one time with the Lord to realign ourselves with the relationship we have with Him. 

We may think we are the Master of our own ship or home, but we quickly find out that we simply cannot do it without God’s help.  He helps our patience, our love, compassion, and peace. He creates us into listeners to our children, our family and friends.  It’s God influence in the peace and quiet that quiets our souls, makes us take a deep breath and live free.

In our stubbornness we like to think we are the Masters of our ship, but it would be better to smile and acknowledge to ourselves that we truly are not the Master, there is only one true Master and He is God.