Yesterday, a prayer group I belong to got together after our long summer break. It’s always great to be with this group of friends, even if it’s once a month and just for a couple of hours.
Well, after we broke up, I stayed behind to chat a bit more with Nancy, my friend who owns the retreat center where we gather.
Yesterday, I was reading a daily meditation about joy. The meditation started with this Scripture passage,
“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” (1 Peter 1:8)
The little reflection spoke about how we have to make a conscious effort to keep our joy.
I don’t know about you, but I really needed this three-day weekend. On Friday, I wasn’t feeling well and went to the doctor. After some tests, I found out I had a virus and was going to be sick for a while.
I had some vacation plans, and they went right out the window. I realized that if I was going to get better quickly, I needed to take it easy. I don’t know about you, but taking it easy doesn’t come naturally to me.
All around us, there are new beginnings. With schools and colleges starting once again, learning is kicking in for another year.
At my office, we counted books yesterday, in anticipation of our first parent meeting tonight. Our classes won’t begin for a few weeks, but with so many students, it takes us awhile to get everything together.
I was blessed to be able to do our book counting a coworker who is retiring today after over 30 years of service to our church. She will be greatly missed.
Over the weekend, I received a newsletter from a well-known Catholic author. This man, in addition to his writing on many faith issues, is also a professor at a college in Ohio.
On the front page of the newsletter, he wrote about his excitement for the start of another academic year, and how much he has enjoyed preparing his lectures and getting ready for classes to begin.
What came through his writing was his level of true excitement. It got me thinking about all the things that I have in my life that are getting ready to start, and I realized that I wasn’t as positive as this man was.
By now, just about everyone knows we had an earthquake here in my area yesterday. Growing up in California, I knew what was happening, but it was hard to believe it.
The 5.8 quake’s epicenter was about 150 miles from where I live, and it was felt all the way up into Canada.
At first, I thought it had to be something that happened in my community, since there were no reports on the radio or television for several minutes. Once they began reporting, everyone knew. Wow. Luckily, no one we killed, and it looks like the damage is minimal.
With all the confusion going on in our culture today, it’s pretty easy to fall into a kind of doubting game.
Is there anyone or anything we can really trust? It seems like we are being let down all over the place, and for many people, they get sucked into a downward spiral of negativity. Doubting, in and of itself, can be an okay thing. The key is to not get trapped in it.
I guess I could have done a post just on all the various barns I saw while I was in the country this past weekend.
It’s amazing to me how different they are from one another, and yet, there were a couple that we almost exactly the same.
While out on my long walks each day, I was also struck by how many barns are falling into disrepair. This one, however, was well maintained. I guess even farmers are stressed out and don’t have time to take care of everything.
I just got back from four absolutely relaxing and stress-free days of retreat. And let me tell you, I loved being in the country.
Whenever I go the back way to my friend Nancy’s retreat center, I have to drive over this bridge. Coming from California, I don’t think I was ever on a one lane bridge until traveling across this one, known as the Fourpoints Bridge.
I hate to say it, but I’m always so busy, I never really took the time to check the bridge out until this little retreat.
St. Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491, and died on July 31, 1556. I’ve always been fascinated how the Catholic Church marks the feast day of saints, not by their birthday, but by the day they entered into eternal life.
Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows how much I’ve been influenced by the writings of this saint, especially through his great gift to Christianity, the Spiritual Exercises.
Of primary importance in the Exercises is what St. Ignatius called the First Principle and Foundation.