Be You Very Well

Everything is a grace…everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love –
difficulties,
contradictions,
humiliations,
all the soul’s miseries,
her burdens,
her needs,
everything,
because through them she learns humility, realizes her weakness.
Everything is a grace, because everything is God’s gift.
Whatever be the character of life, or its unexpected events – to the heart that loves, all is well.

–St Therese of Lisieux

For all the unexpected events and difficulties I meet in life it is good for me to remember that everything is–if I’ll acknowledge and accept the reality of the sacrament of the present moment–a grace, because it comes to me through God and is present in my life for my good and His glory.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow.

The same loving Father who cares for you today

Will care for you tomorrow and every day.

Either He will shield you from suffering,

Or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace, then, and put aside

All anxious thoughts and imaginings.

–St Francis de Sales

These are extremely encouraging words of wisdom that I benefit from while considering the future and all its unknowns, especially big decisions…heck, any size decisions on days when my anxiety is being extra persnickety!:-)

Happy Feast Day, Patron! Thank you for helping us through your prayers, along with those of our beloved departed family, friends, and other special friends in High Places. It will be so great someday to be able to thank everyone in person for all their help!

True contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it.

–G.K. Chesterton

God remains in you in order to hold you up.

You remain in God in order not to fall.

–St Bede the Venerable

Good words we all need to hear (or at least I do)…and pretty much all the time!

The everlasting God has, in His wisdom, foreseen from eternity

the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart.

This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes,

understood with His loving mind,

tested with His wise justice,

warmed with His loving arms,

and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and

not one ounce too heavy for you.

He has blessed it with His holy name,

anointed it with His grace,

perfumed it with His consolation,

taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then

sent it to you from Heaven,

a special greeting from God to you,

an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

–St Francis de Sales

(Yes, more words of wisdom from my patron whose feast is Monday but having just reread this felt it was too good to wait for his special day to share it with you!)

Wife and husband must be more than lovers. Must be comrades, soldiers fighting side by side for same great cause. Ming’s mother say, ‘Wife and husband should not only lie down face-to-face, but stand up shoulder to shoulder.’ They must face together the worst Mogui [Satan] can do to them. And when they draw the strength of Yesu, he bind them together…We depend on each other, need each other. Quan tell me couples in America speak very openly of love. But also that they lose love and move from person to person. This I do not understand. Ming miss Quan as lover…but especially as friend and comrade.

Minghua on being separated from her imprisoned husband Quan in Randy Alcorn’s gut-wrenching Safely Home

The Christian life–and especially the contemplative life–is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places.

–Thomas Merton

Here’s to the unexpected discoveries that 2012 holds for all of us; may they bring us closer to Christ and each other.

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.

— Isaac Asimov

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Here’s to more “thinking through my fingers” in 2012!

First I was recently reminded of this helpful aphorism via FlyLady. A little later I heard it from my therapist. Shortly afterwards during the Sacrament of Reconciliation the priest pointed out God’s infinite patience and loving-kindness and encouraged me to be patient and kind with myself as well. I apparently need the triple whammy treatment because, as I’ve long known, I’m an ADD Christian–viz., in my spiritual life (okay, the rest of my life too!) I keep getting sidetracked, have numerous inspirations and/or projects that don’t get followed through, miss The Big Picture for all those glorious details, and I repeatedly forget what I’ve previously learned in life and thereby end up repeating the same sort of lessons over and over. Sheesh kameesh!

Just now I read that FlyLady’s motto for the upcoming year is Perfectionism is Shelved in 2012!

I like that. And I’m glad God is good with that too. So here’s to shelving perfectionism and being okay with repetition of that which I haven’t yet learned. At least I’m making progress by learning to let go of searching for that elusive perfect life and learning to accept the perfectly good one that I have instead…not that there’s not room for improvement, mind you<g>.

Today I met (by phone) with my St Francis de Sales Association Companion to discuss my spiritual journey of this past month. Yesterday as I was thinking about our upcoming conversation I decided to jot down a few observations, in case my brain chemistry wasn’t going to be cooperative during our scheduled time, it being especially cantankerous lately. After having shared them with her it occurred to me that I could share them with you as well, dear reader, and perhaps someone will find something of use among my thoughts. Some of these reflections were new to me but at least one was definitely old but I have yet to have gotten anywhere near learning it. Or maybe you already know these things and could just use a friendly reminder!

God comes to us when we can’t seem to get to Him.

God loves to lavish upon us gifts that are most unexpected.

Being–as opposed to doing–is enough for some days. Being My Guy’s wife, being my Teen Guy’s mom, being someone who lives and loves, has hopes and dreams and gains and losses, and through it all is sustained by my vocation built upon the sure foundation of all the graces I receive via the sacraments of the Church.

Sometimes we just have to create balance even when it feels we can’t find it, and there’s always a gateway available to this–prayer, sacramentals, music, nature, exercise, FlyLady, whatever!

I hope wherever you are, whatever you are doing today, you feel God’s love for you and you realize during this blessed season of Advent that He has indeed come, He is always coming to us, and one day He will come again in glory!