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Saint and a Bear

Posted by eph21920 on January 15, 2026 in Creation, Faith, Humor, Saint

Today I heard a rather humorous story about the saint of the day – Saint Romedio. The church recognizes so many different people as saints, which makes sense since everyone is different. The story goes like this, from the Aleteia website:

“St. Romedio lived during the 4th century and was an heir in a wealthy family near Innsbruck, Austria. Romedio felt called to give up his many possessions and lead a life dedicated to God. Leaving his inheritance behind, he journeyed to Italy. But a very unfortunate situation occurred — which was quickly turned into a positive. Pope John Paul I narrates the humorous story in a collection of his letters called Illustrissimi.

According to the legend, when he was on his way back from a pilgrimage to Rome, Romedio stopped to rest with his two faithful companions, Abraham and David. After a while he said to David: “It’s time to get back onto the road. Go and fetch our horses in the field.” David went off, then came back terrified: a bear was eating Romedio’s horse. Romedio rushed into the field, saw what was happening, and said quite calmly … “Bear. Obviously you’re hungry as you’re eating my horse. That’s all very well, but I can’t walk home, you know, so you’ll have to be my horse.” And he put the saddle, bridle and reins of the horse [the bear] had eaten on [the bear] … climbed on to [his] back as if [the bear was] the most peaceable mule in the world, and set off in the direction of Trento.

At the end of the story John Paul I left this short little prayer.

Tame me, Lord! Make me more helpful and less of a bear.“

You can actually visit the place where St. Romedio lived. On the grounds is a wildlife sanctuary for bears, which shouldn’t be surprising. Many times the stories of the lives of the saints are gruesome, or horrifying to me. So, I loved hearing the story of this saint of the day with it’s whimsical nature.

I Found God today in a whimsical story of a saint and his bear.

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BINGO

Posted by eph21920 on January 14, 2026 in Friends, Fun, Laughter

I have a friend who loves to go and play BINGO. She and her sister and whoever else wants to will go maybe once a week or so. When I saw her at a get together, a couple of us decided to join them. It has been years since I have gone to play and I always enjoyed it. Tonight we met at the BINGO hall and my friend got us all set up. Another one of her sisters’ came who I hadn’t seen in quite some time. It was great to catch up. The place wasn’t anything like the smokey halls I knew from the past with the BINGO balls rolling around in the big cage. It was clean and computerized. There were side games within the regular games. It was a little more complicated, but I stuck to the easy things. I still had paper cards and a magenta colored dobber that I borrowed from my friend. I had a lot of fun visiting with my friends and playing. My expert friend and her sister each won one game. The rest of us just had fun.

I Found God today having fun with friends.

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The Wildlife

Posted by eph21920 on January 13, 2026 in Creation, Happiness, Joy, Life

I get very excited when I receive a notification from the camera at the cabin – especially when it includes the description “Pet Detected”. Usually I see deer, turkey, fox, or an occasional coyote. Once there was a bear in the driveway attracted by some trash that was left in my brother’s truck. When I heard the notification last night and saw “Pet Detected”, I was anticipating what I might find when I opened the app. There, crossing through the snow in the driveway was a beautiful mountain lion. I had to watch the video over several times to make sure that was what I was actually looking at. Then I sent it with my family. As we were sharing our excitement, another notification came through. There was a second mountain lion, following close to the same trail as the first. I had heard that the big cats lived in the area, but in all the years I have spent at the cabin, I have never seen one. To see two was just amazing to me. Even though I wasn’t physically at the cabin, it was so wonderful to see the mountain lions in the wild right there. I had so much fun sharing the video with everyone I saw today.

I Found God today seeing wildlife.

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Fasching

Posted by eph21920 on January 12, 2026 in Begin, Children, Connected, Faith, Family, Food, Happiness, Tradition

I listened to an interesting podcast today that talked about the season of Carnevale. Evidently in the history of the church seasons, Advent was a time of fasting leading up to Christmas, as was Lent leading up to Easter. Once the Christmas season ended with the Baptism of Jesus, which we celebrated yesterday, the Carnevale season begins. “Carne” meaning “meat” and “Vale” meaning “none” gave definition to the weeks leading up to Lent in which traditionally there is fasting from meat. The 2 together has made the word “carnival” that we know today. The podcast mentioned the “fasching” season in Germany. I remember that time very well, as my family lived there in the early 1970’s. Fasching seemed to last a long time with various parades and costumes. As a child, on a specific day we would dress up and go from house to house saying, “speck und eier”, meaning “bacon and eggs”. That made no sense to me at the time, but people gave us candy, so we participated in the event. My mom was German, so she was able to navigate any awkward situations that might have occurred. Today, all this started to make sense. Different places celebrate Carnivale with their own time frame and customs. “Bacon and eggs” was a reminder that there will soon be fasting from such things and we better eat the good stuff while we can. Of course, as a child it was much more exciting to get candies instead of a steak. So, enjoy this time of merriment before we get somber during Lent.

I Found God today learning more about Carnivale and remembering the fun I had with it as a child.

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Holiday Party

Posted by eph21920 on January 11, 2026 in Friends, Grateful, Home, Tradition

Today was the annual holiday party in our little housing complex. I have been hesitant to go in the past, but planned on going today. I guess I have realized how much I enjoy and need to visit with other people – even those I don’t know very well. And everyone here is just so nice. One of the ladies even called to see if I was going. I talked with many people that I knew and some that I didn’t. Even though it’s a small community, one of the couples used their van to pick up people who had a hard time walking. That’s one of the advantages of a small community. Here, people look out for one another, check on each other, and help each other out. The food was good, the company was excellent and I was surprised how fast the time went by. I am grateful for my caring and generous neighbors.

I Found God today in my caring neighbors.

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Selling Things

Posted by eph21920 on January 10, 2026 in Answer, Connected, Family, Grateful, Healing, Life, Past

When my dad was putting together the family genealogy books, he sorted hundreds of extra photos into envelopes for friends and extended family. A couple weeks ago, I contacted 3 cousins who I have not kept in touch with and asked if I could mail them their packet. I heard from 2 of them who were very excited to connect. So, I put together their packages to mail. After a big snowstorm yesterday, I decided to go out today. When I left the house, some of the roads were still icy and some had that frozen slush. I figured there would be many people out since most people were snowed in yesterday. My first stop was the post office. I managed to get in and out before the line started to grow long. Then I went to the mall. I don’t go there too often, but it seemed like a good idea as I was looking for a couple different things. I stopped in an interesting flower shop that also had an eclectic mix of antiques and artisan handiwork. I spoke to the owner and found that she sold things on consignment. I told her about the collection of my dad’s photographs that we still have. She said to bring some in and see if they would sell. That was good news. After that, I went to an antique mall. I had put my name on the list to sell there over a year ago. They contacted me, letting me know there was a glass display case ready if I was interested. I located the case in the mall and tried to envision what kind of things from the estate I could put in there. It feels good to me to have places to take my parents’ treasures and hope that others will appreciate them. I also now enjoy talking about my parents and their museum. I think it is healing and makes me happy to share the wonderful life they had instead of feeling so sad.

I Found God today making headway on estate items.

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Community

Posted by eph21920 on January 9, 2026 in Begin, Connected, Family, Friends, Grateful, Life, Relationship

When I was talking with my sister today, she asked the same question that everyone is wondering – where am I going to move to when I leave my parents’ house. It actually is my house, but I continue to think of it as my parents’. The answer to that question is – – I don’t know. We talked about how I am so grateful to have a wonderful community here with family, friends, neighbors, and church. It would be hard to move to a place where I would have to start building that all over again. My sister did exactly that when she moved to the east coast. Not only that, but she got sick and was holed up in her house for months. But, now that she’s feeling better and has more time, she has been plugging into groups and getting to know more people in their community. It is so important for a person’s well-being to have people around you who you can count on and who accept you for who you are. I am glad she is building up a community in her new home now. And it gives me much to consider when the time comes for me to move. But that is not for today.

I Found God today realizing the importance of community.

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Spell “World”

Posted by eph21920 on January 8, 2026 in Connected, Friends, Generosity, Knowledge, Life, Opportunity, Patience, Relationship, Trust

I was visiting a friend today when she received a phone call. She answered and put it on speaker. As she was talking with the woman, she asked her if she could tell me about their relationship. The woman agreed and could hear everything she said. My friend was a special education teacher for many years. After she had retired, she came across a state program that helped adults with learning disabilities. They were looking for teachers and my friend volunteered. That is how she met the woman on the other end of the line. The woman had an accident when she was in first grade and was so debilitated that she was unable to attend school and never received any additional instruction. My friend was her tutor almost 20 years ago. She taught her some techniques to learn to read and she was still using them. My friend said she could now read at a fifth grade level. The woman was very proud of herself and corrected her by saying “sixth grade level”. They speak to each other several times a week and the woman tells her a new word that she learned to spell. Today’s word was “world”, which the woman spelled out correctly. The duo said their goodbyes and blessed each other. I felt honored to be part of their conversation. They had a beautiful relationship based on empathy, patience, and trust.

I Found God today in a beautiful relationship.

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God Knows

Posted by eph21920 on January 7, 2026 in Faith, Grateful, Life, Struggles

I was going through my photos today and found a quote by C.S. Lewis that I thought was very fitting as we start the New Year. Maybe we’re making resolutions or trying to overcome something we’re struggling with. For me, it is comforting to know that God knows all about our humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. And nothing we are going through surprises Him. I am grateful that He is still present, offering His love and comfort.

I Found God today comforted in His ability to know us and still love us.

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Great Neighbors

Posted by eph21920 on January 6, 2026 in Children, Faith, Friends, Generosity, Grateful

This afternoon one of my neighbors stopped over with her grandchildren. They had decorated some cookies and were sharing them. The woman and the 2 little girls came in while we visited for a bit. The girls were interested in the nativity set and we talked about how today is Epiphany. One of the girls questioned why the movies showed the 3 Kings arriving at the stable right after Jesus is born, if the celebration of the event is several days after Christmas. The grandmother did a pretty good job of explaining the difference between movies and what probably really happened. It was fun to have young visitors. As they were leaving, I heard some noise in my front garden area. We went outside and there was one of my other neighbors fixing my downspout. I had told him that it kept getting detached and was lying in the garden, getting blown around by the wind. He found some screws and got it all fixed up for me. He also helped me put all my Christmas boxes away. While we were all outside talking with the girls, the neighbor across the sidewalk came outside, not wanting to miss out on the neighborhood meeting. He is also a very nice man, but struggles with repercussions from a brain injury. Later I visited with his wife who told me about the big family trip they just returned from. She had rented a wheelchair so her husband wouldn’t have to try to walk to all the outings. She said he was not happy about it, but at the same time was grateful. She got teary eyed when shared how attentive her sons were to their father, pushing him in the wheelchair and helping him to get around. I am so grateful for my amazing neighbors who are helpful, faithful, generous, and encouraging.

I Found God today in the blessing of my neighbors.

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