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Ancestors

Posted by eph21920 on November 6, 2023 in Answer, Connected, Family, Grateful, Hope, Life, Past, Present

I watched the Disney movie Coco last night. It gave an opportunity to think about the importance of family and all those who have gone before. Today a friend shared a graphic called Ancestral Mathematics that I thought was interesting and thoughtful as well. It counted back 12 generations – 4094 ancestors over about 400 years that made it possible for you to be born at this point in time. The final thought was to ponder all the difficulties, joys, struggles, hopes, dreams, and I would add perseverance that each one of them had to have gone through in order for you to exist in this present moment. It was a little mind boggling, but made me appreciate my family even more.

I Found God today pondering my ancestry.

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Son the Father

Posted by eph21920 on November 5, 2023 in Faith, Friends, Grace, Life, Prayer, Priest, Relationship

My mom was pretty worn out from yesterday’s activities, so she was unable to make it to church today. We put on the Mass from the parish I used to work for on the East coast. There we saw the deacon that I knew. The regular priest wasn’t there. I thought I recognized the visiting priest, but wasn’t sure. Then he introduced himself. It was the deacon’s son. I had met him several times, but had not seen him in almost 10 years. He looked a little older, but was still the vibrant, passionate speaker that I remembered. He shared a little of his vocation story. He said he knew he was going to be a priest at a very young age. But during his adolescence, he tried to push it aside. He started praying the rosary daily with his parents and received enough grace to follow through with God’s amazing plan for his life. It was a beautiful sight to see the father and son duo on the altar. I thought about how many lives this faithful family has touched.

I Found God today in a holy father and son.

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Getting Out

Posted by eph21920 on November 4, 2023 in Creation, Family, Food, Grateful, Happiness, Joy, Life, Opportunity, Weather

We were blessed with an absolute gorgeous day today. It had been way too long since my mom had been out, so my sister and I took her to her one of her favorite parks. It was packed. Seems everyone else wanted to enjoy it as well. Luckily, I knew of a handicapped only parking area. It was empty. We unloaded the wheelchair and mom and off we went. The path through the beautiful rock formations was bustling with people and dogs of every kind. We stopped to watch a couple of people climb to the top of one of the rocks. My mom even walked a little bit using the wheelchair as a walker. When we completed our usual loop, we drove through the rest of the area and enjoyed the scenery. It was just about lunchtime and we realized we were very close to the German bakery. We picked up some braunschweiger, brats, red cabbage, and a bunch of treats and headed home to feast. My mom was tired in the afternoon, but no worse than usual. We were all grateful for our day out.

I Found God today in a day out.

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Calm

Posted by eph21920 on November 3, 2023 in Family, Grateful, Life, Peace

After a couple of very hectic days, I was glad, grateful, and relieved to have a much calmer day. Busy, productive, but calm.

I Found God today in calm.

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Breath of God

Posted by eph21920 on November 2, 2023 in Answer, Life, New, Priest

I came across a video today of a priest talking about the meaning of the name of God – specifically YHWH. He had a conversation with a Jewish Rabbi who explained that the word was to emulate our breath. Our life breath is a gift from God and the closest we come to Him. We speak His name when we take our first breath when we are born and will speak His name as the last word when we die. Then the priest said God’s name as he breathed – YH on the inhale and WH on the exhale. It was very powerful as was the rest of the video. It should be a good, easy thing to remember when I am feeling stressed. Breathe and call on God.

I Found God today breathing God.

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Already and Not Yet

Posted by eph21920 on November 1, 2023 in Bible, Eternity, Faith, Hope

I got out my mom’s new Word Among Us book today to start the month of November so she could follow along the readings as we watched All Saints Day Mass. The cover of the publication said, “Already and Not Yet”. That grabbed my attention. Then in the homily, the priest made reference to those exact words. I figured I had better pay attention. The magazine and the priest talked about how we live in state of having already received many of God’s promises, being Baptized children of God. At the same time, we are awaiting the fullness of God’s kingdom. This idea was explained well in 1 John 3:2, “We are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” It seemed like a somewhat difficult concept for me to grasp. But I concluded that is what it means to live in faith and hope; faith that God is with me now and hope for His promise of eternal peace.

I Found God today in the idea of Already and Not Yet.

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Joyful Halloween

Posted by eph21920 on October 31, 2023 in Children, Family, Fun, Joy, Past

This Halloween morning, my mom was reminiscing about how she celebrated the day when she was a child. She said that her dad always baked some special cookies for the kids who would come to the bakery. But the first memory she had of herself celebrating the holiday was when she was in 8th grade. She went to a Halloween party, but no one dressed up. They played games such as bobbing for apples and circle games. There was also a challenge to see who could jump up and reach a branch on a tree. She tried, but fell and hurt herself. She didn’t like that at all. Also this morning, a memory popped up on social media from last year. I had made some pretty fun Halloween foods. This year, all I could muster was a free donut from the grocery store. But my mom certainly did enjoy it. Later in the afternoon, one of the neighbor ladies brought her granddaughters over for trick or treat. That was fun as there are never any that come in to the relatively closed community. They came in the house and my mom gave them the treats we had ready for them as they made her smile. Later my granddaughter stopped by. She was dressed as Wednesday from the Addams Family and showed her best “non-emotional” face. In all, it was a fun and enjoyable Halloween.

I Found God today in my mom’s joy.

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Faith in Grief

Posted by eph21920 on October 30, 2023 in Death, Faith, Friends, Grateful, Grief, Love, Struggles

I heard from a friend of mine today that her husband passed away. I met them years ago. My mother was participating in the Parkinson’s exercise class and so was my friend’s husband. He was having a very difficult time already back then – particularly with falling. He even fell during the class. My friend did her best to care for him at home until it became too much for her. Then began the search for an appropriate facility which included several moves. He was on Hospice Care for a few years, then off, then back on again. My friend advocated hard for him in the different circumstances and problems that came up. She is a very faithful woman and never turned away from God, despite the struggles and sufferings. When we spoke today, she described the plethora of emotions she felt, which I understood only too well. She was of course sad for the loss of the love of her life. At the same time, she was grateful that he died peacefully and was now freed from the awful disease that slowly took away all that he was. She envisioned him in heaven – vibrant, whole, healed, and reuniting with the loved ones who have gone before him. Her love, faith, and commitment are such an inspiration to me.

I Found God today in a faithful friend.

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Furry Friend and First Snow

Posted by eph21920 on October 29, 2023 in Car, Creation, Family, Weather

Yesterday my son and his girlfriend went out to try a new restaurant. It was pretty far, so he asked if we would watch his dog. Of course we did. It is always nice to spend time with her. She’s a good dog and so fluffy and furry and fun to pet. On their way home, our first snowstorm of the season was just beginning. It took them much longer to get home and they said there were quite a few cars off the road. We were all glad they made it safely. The snow continued during the night and into the morning. I decided not to try to go to church. But, the roads started clearing off later so I was happy to make it to the later Mass. When we chatted on family Zoom in the afternoon, we discovered that both my brother and brother in law were traveling in the weather. Everyone was grateful for safety.

I Found God today in a furry Friend and safe travels.

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Being Renewed

Posted by eph21920 on October 27, 2023 in Answer, Connected, Faith, Family, Home, Prayer

Our parish is having a “Stewardship Renewal” in which parishioners are being asked to prayerfully consider how they can share their gifts and talents with the parish. They sent a mailing that included a lovely magazine type publication that briefly explained the different ministries available to participate in. I had no idea there were so many. When the pastor talked about it during Mass, my mom had a desire to be involved in some way. We decided that since we are pretty faithful pray-ers that we could be part of the parish “Prayer Chain.” We can pray for those people who are requesting specific prayers. Even though we can’t commit to going out and being part of ministry in that way, it feels good to be able to truly make a difference with our prayers.

I Found God today being part of a parish ministry from home.

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