Christmas in North Carolina

What a wonderful Christmas--we are truly blessed. We spent this Christmas at our log home in Brevard, NC, with our oldest daughter Mandy and her husband Brian, and our granddaughter Lydia, and my sister Mary Beth and her husband Duane and their three children--Karen, Patrick, and Meghan. Oh, and there were five dogs, also. We bought two live trees--a beautiful spruce and a holly--and decorated them and planted them later. The holly tree is in memory of little "Piccolo"--the baby Mandy and Brian recently lost--and the spruce is the first of hopefully many more Christmas trees to come. 

We played board games, enjoyed a white Christmas, went shopping, even lost power and had to snuggle a bit! We all learned the ins and outs of Farkle!, ate way too much candy, and even had a group caroling session at our neighbors', the Clarkes'--with Brian on guitar, Meghan on trumpet, and Marianna on electric organ. We baked bread, walked dogs (a lot), ate, drank wine, talked, cried, opened gifts, ate some more, sang, went to church, prayed, and basically had a wonderful time. Lydia had more attention than she knew what to do with, and Brian had a heck of a time getting everything in their car.

And two thousand years ago a little babe was born in a manger, surrounded by farm animals, while his virgin mother and carpenter father looked on and angels sang hallelujah under a starry night so we could celebrate His birth over and over again. And that is what Christmas is all about--celebrating His birth and our rebirth.

Leave it to Jesus

I know, you probably thought I forgot about step 7. I almost did...this is a hard one for me (maybe for you too?). “Be humble and you will never be disturbed. It is very difficult in practice because we all want to see the result of our work. Leave it to Jesus.”

I love being in control--being in charge, knowing what is next, what's going on, what is on my list, what is getting done, who is coming to dinner, what I am having for dinner, how we are doing on the budget, when can we retire, do I have everyone's birthday cards, where are we going for vacation, do I have all the Christmas shopping finished, am I a good enough Christian/mom/wife/daughter/friend/worker. Enough to make anyone tired, isn't it? So, this little bit of advice from Mother T is the biggest one for me-- Leave it to Jesus.

Faithfulness

“God doesn’t ask that we succeed in everything, but that we are faithful. However beautiful our work may be, let us not become attached to it. Always remain prepared to give it up, without losing your peace.”

Love without ever getting tired...

Continuing with Mother T's seven steps to a holier life, we are already up to step 5!“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.” – Mother Teresa

Now, we all get tired, so she did not mean don't get tired. Or don't get tired of each other. Although that would be nice. What she means is do not ever EVER get tired of LOVE, loving one another, sharing God's love. Love does not have to be huge or earth shattering. But it does need to be consistent and constant and true and in line with the Church's principles and teachings.

It is not easy--there are times when it is hard to step outside myself and love someone else, or to see beyond myself or my own interests or selfish needs. Heck, sometimes it is hard to even like myself let alone someone else. But I am going to keep loving without tiring of loving--hopefully in the true spirit of Christ

Small things...great love

One of the things I have been struggling with is that I am just not doing enough for the world, that I am not leaving a big enough legacy behind, doing enough to show God's love, to share my blessings with a world in such desperate need of His love.

So this saying of Mother Teresa is my favorite: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”

Open your eyes...

Continuing in my steps to a holier life (borrowing from Mother Teresa)--

Simply put, "open your eyes, each one of them is Jesus in disguise"

I don't know about you, but I have people I deal with every day--coworkers, people I don't even know--drivers, panhandlers on the street corner, customer service folks, workers, bank reps, etc.--that drive me to the brink of insanity. These are people who I am apt to categorize as "irritating" or "pains in the butt" or "not worth my time" or "exasperating". I sometimes, or to be honest, oftentimes look down on them as less important than me, or less "Christian" than me. And even if that is only for a fleeting moment, that is wrong--we are all created in God's image, and we are all "Jesus in disguise".

And, when others are seemingly judgmental of me or my beliefs, I must open my eyes and see "Jesus in disguise" in them as well, and not be tempted to become cynical or critical or harsh or defensive, even if those who are critical of me are friends or loved ones.

God created us all in His image, and He did not make any mistakes! Amen!

Make some Room!

Continuing with the seven steps...Step 2: Make some room: Mother Teresa said: “If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.”

Lately I have been feeling discouraged about not learning certain things fast enough, or feeling like I am not doing enough (whatever that means), or that my kids no longer "need me", or (and the list goes on). Common thread? I am counting on "me" or "my" feelings to fill that void, instead of counting on God to fill it. I need to work on overcoming pride--cleaning that pride out of inner self would make room for God to work HIS magic in HIS time.

Slow Down!

My favorite radio station is the station owned and operated by the Diocese of St Petersburg, and the other day I heard Abby on The Big Big Morning Show talk about how they were going to do these 7 steps over the next 7 days. Caught my attention and I love the heart and spirit of Mother Teresa--she was a true follower of Christ.

Step 1: SLOW DOWN! “I think the world today is upside down. Everybody seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater development and greater riches and so on. There is much suffering because there is so very little love in homes and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other. In the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world.”

Wow, how true. Technology....cell phones, pagers, TV, computers, video games, movies on phones, phones on TV, computer on TV, phones in cars. No one looks at each other any more, we text, we don't talk, we shop online, we chat online instead of talking on the phone. Communication is a dying (or dead) art. WE are in so much of a hurry to get somewhere and do something that we are doing two or three things at once (and none of them well). We HAVE to take time to talk to our families, our friends, our children, our parents, and especially our Lord.

a bad day

Ahhhh.....a husband who can cook, a nice cold mojito, and opera in surround sound. Melts away the stresses of a really really REALLY bad day. That and remembering that even on my WORST day I have it better than 99 percent of the world.

The reading of the day really helped me too:

Part of it(from Ephesians 4:1-7): "live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience,bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Peace!

Not enough time

Today as I was driving home from body pump (which ROCKS!), I was watching pelicans and cranes flying overhead, and enjoying the beautiful Florida sky (and weather), listening to my favorite radio station, and marveling at how so many drivers just zip on by, in such a hurry to go somewhere, nowhere, anywhere? And I saw a man walking along the road, a man who obviously was in need of a job and help and more importantly, prayer. And here I was in my Lexus cocoon, heading to my big air conditioned house, and all I could do was make the sign of the cross, and say a prayer that this man's needs would be met and that he already had God in his life. From there my mind raced onward to "what type of legacy am I going to leave in this world? I'm 55 years old and what do I have to show for my time on earth? There is not enough time left for me to help everyone, to do what I should do, to help who needs help. And yes, this is a once or twice weekly occurrence--yeah, I've reached the midlife craziness, folks.

Then I came home and ate a bag of chips with Jalapeno cheddar dip, balanced the checkbook, and watched Master Chef to slow down my brain

Senior citizen on the blog!

I figured I would give it a shot...heck, I am feeling pretty darn inadequate today, having a case of the "pity me's" so to give myself a shot of "you go grandma!" I figured I would try my hand at building my own blog. I mean I am learning how to be an intel analyst, manage linguists (two jobs I knew nothing about less than 8 months ago), be a nana (again...knew nothing about that till January)...and I moved to a new house...so what the H E double hockey sticks?

On a good note, though, I did go to body pump today, and I did finish the entire release #74, including the lunge track and chest track without wimping out like some of the younger chicks!

So, I will try to regularly post my thoughts here, and try not to bore you all with too many diatribes.