Leave a comment

Tour of the House

A few weeks back, my son purchased his first home. It needed to have some work done before he moved his family in, so he worked hard on it along with others including my other son who will be staying with him for the summer. Within a few days they got everyone and everything moved in. Today they sent some pictures of them enjoying the swimming pool that is in the back yard. Then we connected via video chat and I got a tour of the house. My younger grandson was happy to show me all the tricks he could do on all the furniture. I thought it was funny. My son – – not so much. I got to see my daughter-in-law whose belly continues to grow with the baby inside. The home is very nice and has plenty of room for another little one. They have also made nice accommodations for my other son. While I miss them tremendously, it was wonderful to connect, see them all and the new house, and know that things are going very well for all of them.

I Found God today in connecting with my kids and seeing how they are all getting along.

Leave a comment

Sacred Heart of Jesus

For the past 9 days, I have been saying a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Today was the feast day, so I got myself to Mass first thing in the morning. The scripture readings all tied together the amazing love that Christ – God – has for us. His heart overflows with love for us, no matter what we might do or think or feel. The first reading was from Hosea. The priest explained more about Hosea. He was a prophet – he heard God and relayed messages from Him to the people. At one point, Hosea’s wife committed adultery. God told Hosea to take her back and compared the relationship to the people and God. The Israelites at the time were not listening to God, but He loved them and would always take them back. Hosea was to live as an example of that kind of love. It is the same with us now. We are “looking for love in all the wrong places”. God reveals Himself to us in many ways, but we are so quick to walk away from Him and do our own thing. But, the Sacred Heart of Jesus cannot love us any less. It is completely contradictory to what we hear from the society and it is beautiful. Another scripture that tried to explain this love was from Ephesians, “…. that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” One thing that I prayed for during the Novena was inner peace. I was SO peaceful today, that I took an hour and a half nap in the afternoon! That never happens – and it felt great.

I Found God today in the truth of the overflowing love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Leave a comment

No Longer a Child

My bedroom is on the lower level of the house. I am very happy to have a window, but the view is of the window well. We have been talking about what to do to dress it up when my mom found pictures of “fairy gardens” in one of her magazines. This is basically a miniature garden set in a pot with assorted little scenes. Interestingly, a few days later, my cousin dropped my parents an email including a picture of a fairy garden that she was working on that my parents had given to her mother. Then my sister sent me an ad for a class to make one of the gardens hosted by a local garden shop. As I looked at the ad, I thought I recognized the name of the teacher and did a little research. The teacher was in fact the son of some friends I had when I lived in this area previously. He was just a little kid when I moved away. I signed up for the class super excited to make the garden and connect with the young man. Unfortunately, I had to back out of the class as my dad was just getting home from the hospital. Today, my mom and I decided to get a pot of flowers to put on the front porch and headed over to the garden shop. We told the lady at the counter that we were looking forward to making a fairy garden, but could not make it. She said the teacher was there and called him over. It was the young man that I knew as a young boy. We chatted a bit about where the assorted family members were now and I knew I was staring at him. I apologized and said it was just so funny that I remember him when he was little, so he squatted down low to see if that was better. He did look pretty much the same, just taller! It was pretty funny.

I Found God today in the interesting circumstances to connect with a young man and seeing how he grew from the small boy I remembered into a young adult.

Leave a comment

Inspirational Improvement

You know how some people just seem to have more than their fair share of struggles? I have felt this way about a good friend of mine who has chronic health issues, found herself going through a divorce a few years ago, and has terrible problems with her children. The last time I saw her, she was using a walker and not driving. At the same time she has incredible faith. She loves the Lord and hangs on to Him for dear life. She is constantly saying a novena of some kind and always for other people. While she has every right to wallow in pity, she refuses to do so. She is constantly thinking of others and what she can do to help. I talked with her today and was shocked to hear her say that she is now walking with her dog about 3 miles a day. She also has been driving herself around and taking trips. I could not believe my ears – but then again I guess it should not surprise me. She refuses to give in and/or give up. Even though she still will need additional surgery at some point she moves forward each day, talking to God, and following His lead. She is inspirational to say the least.

I Found God today in the incredible improvement of a friend with ongoing struggles.

4 Comments

Silence

Today I read a little quote that really struck me by Matthew Kelly, “Things start to make sense in the classroom of silence. Whatever it is you are trying to make sense of, are you giving it the silence it needs?” I thought about this and realized how difficult it can be for me to quiet myself – especially into silence. I keep myself pretty busy. I can always find something to do and have a dozen other things waiting in the wings. When I do feel like relaxing, I usually do it in front of the TV – mindless noise. Or I can get on the computer and find an endless supply of social media and videos to keep my mind engaged. But to sit with God in silence is hard. I do take time in the morning to really pray, but even then I am full of chatter – good noise, but noise none the less. Yet I can remember times when I was still and quiet and allowed God to fill me with His grace and peace. There is nothing else like it. I need to do that more.

I Found God today in a reminder to be silent to experience Him on a deeper level.

Leave a comment

Talking With a Friend

Today I was happy to get a phone call from a far away friend. A while back she told me that her mother had just been diagnosed with cancer. She was able to spend some time with her as she started her chemotherapy and radiation. She said it was difficult to see her mom struggling not just physically but emotionally too. I could empathize with her. At this point her mother is doing well and awaiting tests to see how effective the treatment has been. She also had talked with her mom recently and she was going through her list of things she was grateful for. I thought that was a great attitude and was glad to hear that she was feeling alright at this time. We caught up on the rest of the news from our families and I started to get the update on mutual friends. I suddenly realized it was about dinner time and that I had nothing ready to go. We had talked for an hour and a half and could have gone longer. I really enjoyed catching up with her. Oh – and for dinner I heated up some frozen leftovers, then got frozen yogurt.

I Found God today in the joy of talking with friend and hearing that her mother is ok right now.

Leave a comment

Corpus Christi

I was so happy to wake from a sound sleep this morning and feeling better. Both my mom and dad did some heavy napping today and things are getting back to our “normal”. We did not make it to church in the morning and as I was reading the local Catholic newspaper, I realized it is the Feast of Corpus Christi – or the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. I thought of the wonderful processions that we had where I used to live and decided I would get to the evening Mass. I was glad I did. The scripture readings included Exodus 24:3-8 about the covenant that Moses and the Israelites made with God. It was a primitive and rather barbaric ritual using an animal sacrifice. Another scripture was Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 when Jesus made the “new covenant” by sacrificing His own body and blood. In this scripture, Jesus says, “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood”. The priest pointed out that this is the only time where Jesus says “This is .. .” At all other times when He is trying to explain the spiritual world, He says it “is like . . .”. Catholics take this so seriously, that we believe the Presence of Christ exists in the host and wine after the prayers have been said by the priest. It truly is nothing short of a miracle, yet this is what God provides for us. The priest said that when we receive the Chalice at Communion, it is like shaking hands with God and making the covenant with Him. We are saying, “You are my God and I will follow You.” I thought of that as I received Communion. As I prayed, I thanked God that my dad was home and feeling so much better.

I Found God today in Holy Communion and in my dad feeling better.

2 Comments

Selfless Sister

I guess I was more stressed than I realized with everything that has happened the past couple of days as I woke up early this morning with a splitting headache. I could feel the stress working up and did what I could to reduce the toll it was taking on my body, but evidently it was just too much. I tried what I knew to do when I get a migraine, but it just got worse. I managed to talk briefly to my mom, get my dad’s medication in order for the day and call my sister who lives a little over an hour away. She came on over and took care of things for the rest of the day. I spent the majority of it in my dark room with a cold washcloth on my forehead. By late afternoon I was finally feeling good enough to function. My dad seemed to be doing pretty good, checking his blood pressure often which was in a decent range. I was so grateful that my sister is close and was willing and able to come on over.

I Found God today in my selfless sister who put aside her plans for the weekend to come and take care of everyone.

Leave a comment

Home To Recover

My dad had a very difficult night last night. He had a bad reaction to one of the medications and was seeing and hearing things all night long. He was still pretty distraught when my mom and I got there this morning and his blood pressure was way up. It was a rocky morning for everyone and we really just wanted to get him home. We were grateful when a woman came in and offered Holy Communion. We gladly accepted. It was a moment of peace. Lunchtime came around and we still hadn’t seen the doctor, so my mom and I left to get a bite to eat. Of course that is when the doctor visited my dad. My dad told him the problems with the medication, so he will not be taking that one any more. The doctor said that he felt the blood pressure was under control at this time and it was ok for my dad to go home. Hooray! Evidently my dad also had a conversation with his roommate and apologized for any ruckus that he caused during the night. On the way out, my dad was thanking everyone for all the help they were and for their kindness. When we got home, he fell asleep in seconds – clearly exhausted from the whole ordeal – and slept for hours. He managed to wake up for dinner and as we talked about the past few days, he said that he learned a lot and that it was worth the pain and stress of the hospital stay. I was somewhat surprised by the comment. Today I gained a new insight into my dad.

I Found God today in the incredibly patient nurses, in the ability to receive Communion, in being able to get my dad home to recover, and most of all in the extremely grateful and empathetic actions from my father.

2 Comments

God Is There Too

Well, they did many different tests on my dad today and they all came out normal. Like everything, this is good and bad. Good that there is nothing that jumps out as going horribly wrong. Bad that we don’t really have an answer as to what IS going on. They are working on adjusting his medication to get his blood pressure stabilized and decided to keep him one more night. A new problem that we are encountering is that my dad is having some confusion about where he is. We talked with the nurse and she said it is fairly common especially in the elderly. The combination of the illness, lack of sleep, and a new environment is taxing on the body. We are praying that this is a temporary issue and/or leads to a necessary diagnosis. It was difficult to leave him for the night. But just before I went to bed, he called to make sure I took the trash out as they will be picking it up tomorrow. It is his usual Thursday night routine. I assured him I had.  And where did I find God? At one point during the day I took a little break and went for a walk around the park in the beautiful sunlight. On my way back to the room, I passed the hospital chapel. Walked right by til God said, “I am in here too.” So I turned around, went in, saw what appeared to be a tabernacle, and spent a few minutes in silent prayer, relaxing and breathing.

I Found God today in a few minutes of alone time with Him.