I’m one of those people who still makes New Year’s Resolutions, and they’ve always been the subject of one of my columns each year – a practice I plan to continue with my blog. When I sat down to write this morning, I was all set to write about my resolution to deal with “unfinished business” – projects started but not completed, unanswered email, and some boxes and bins that still haven’t been unpacked from our move. But then I got a phone call from [...]
I was on the treadmill at the health club the other day. Two women near me were talking about their holiday plans and preparations. One of them was going through the list of people she still needed to buy gifts for, and saying how difficult it was to figure out what to buy for her young nieces and nephews. Plus, she had to ship some of the gifts, and she wasn’t looking forward to standing in line at the post office. “That’s why Thanksgiving is [...]
For all those who are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday this weekend, I hope you’ve been having a wonderful time with family and friends, and that you have taken the time to recognize and acknowledge the many things in your life for which you are thankful. Gratitude is not something to be acknowledged on just one day or weekend during the year, of course. So I hope you will also take this opportunity to begin, right now, a practice of expressing gratitude every day – to [...]
“We don’t take a vow of poverty,” he told us. “We take a vow of simplicity.” The person speaking was a Trappist monk who was leading the retreat I attended at my church last weekend. At the start of the retreat, he shared some of his background, answered some questions, and corrected some mistakes and misconceptions about what his day-to-day life is like, adding that the beliefs many people have about monks and monasteries come more from Hollywood than they do from reality. I enjoyed [...]
“We take love out into the community.” Of all the statements I heard last Saturday night, that is the one that touched me the most – and has stayed with me ever since. My husband and I were at a Wine and Cheese gathering for new parishioners at our church. We met a number of other new members there, as well as some long-time parishioners. And we chatted with some of the people we see regularly at Mass, but had never officially met before. In [...]
Sometimes the path we’re on in life is a frustrating, uphill battle. At other times, things are going so well and happening so quickly that we are in awe of the angels and opportunities that have been put in our path to help us. Both have been true – sometimes at the same time – with regard to the work I’m involved in in Uganda. It was October of 2011 when I took the first of four – so far – trips to Uganda with [...]
The women’s group at my church held its Spring Brunch yesterday. I signed up to attend as soon as I heard about it, and was looking forward to it for a number of reasons. For one thing, I was excited about meeting and getting to know some of the women at our new church. For another, the speaker was going to be a woman from a local nursery, who would be talking about herbs, one of my passions – and one that I’ve been especially [...]
Thunderstorms were predicted for yesterday, and the sky was turning dark as my husband and I finished our shopping and left the store. “Something nasty is coming,” I said, “and it’s more than just a thunderstorm.” When you grow up in the Midwest, as we both did, you get to know the smell and feel of what we call “tornado weather.” It doesn’t mean a tornado is definitely coming, but it means the conditions are right for one to develop. The sky continued to darken [...]
These contradictory thoughts have been popping into my head often as my husband and I completed our move from Minnesota to Georgia. His final day of work was last Friday, and by Sunday we were packed up and on the road. We spent a day in Chicago visiting family, then took two days to drive down to our new home. We’ve made the drive to Chicago several times a year during the time we’ve lived in Minnesota, so we’ve gotten used to the landmarks, the [...]
“You’ll always be my friend… You know too much.” That was the saying embroidered on the quilt I gave to a close friend of mine for Christmas a number of years ago. This lighthearted sentiment is similar in tone to another phrase that’s often given as the definition of a friend, which is that a friend is someone who knows everything about you – and likes you anyway. Both these sayings came up as part of a talk I gave last week to a women’s [...]