So, considering its Thanksgiving day and all...it would be expected that I provide a long list of things and people I'm thankful for. And I suppose I'll shelve my spontaneity for a day and do so...but first I have to say 2 things. 1) My holiday this year was different because my family celebrated last night instead of today, so some of my list will probably be weird, and 2) Last year my sister asked my brother (who was stationed overseas) if they celebrated Thanksgiving in Hungary...gotta love her. ;)
1. Sara Gudde...for being a woman of God and setting this world and my world on fire...and I've only had the pleasure of knowing her for 6 months.
2. Emily "Louie" Kopff...for having inexhaustible joy and peace that suffocates any worry or stress I have. She is wise, graceful, humble, hilarious, an excellent example and testament of Christ to others. She has done more for me in our friendship than she knows.
3. Blankets, coats, and gloves
4. Hand lotion-it really hurts when my hands dry out in the winter!
5. The Mass-I have not made it to daily Mass all week, and it makes me sad. But the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is something to be thankful for no matter the holiday.
6. Music-I just watched 4 episodes of Glee, and made 2 car trips in the last week. Music is an amazing way to experience life.
7. Family. Of course. That includes those I am related to by blood, marriage, and kindred spirits. I could attempt to do justice to my gratitude for family/friends/framily in about 3,950,398,092,349,283 blog posts...but it wouldn't be enough. :)
8. Long-ish hair. It keeps my neck warm.
9. Having a job.
10. Mama Mary. She's taken care of me, She has listened to me and come to my aid when I have needed Her most. She is working miracles in my life...and has been since long before I even noticed She was there. Thanks a lot, Mama.
Though, its a secular holiday, the whole idea of Thanksgiving really seems like a memorial to being a Christian. A day is set aside for the joyful, gracious, loving spirit of humanity to rein. Our lives are to be a response to the many gifts and graces God has bestowed upon us. We go out and make God's good world better because we thank Him for all He has done, and our actions show that. So Thanksgiving is, really, a day for everyone to appreciate and embrace the spirit that Christians adopt daily. Yesssss.
Good and gracious God, we praise You and thank You, for the holiday of Thanksgiving. Amen.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Fluffy Poets
"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." -- Robert Frost
Ok, so I absolutely dig quotes. I found this quote on a random blog that I accidentally clicked on, and immediately had those gooey, fuzzy, head-rush happy feelings you get when you hear something cheesy...those instances where EVERY girl shamelessly (and guys in their head shamefully, I know it) says "AWWWWWWW...." etc. I posted it on facebook, wrote it down in several places and have gone out of my way to quote it to 6 people. At first glance, most of poets' work is based on that intense appeal to emotion; sorry, poetry-lovers/writers, but its true. However, I find that the quotes/poems I dig the most are the ones that proclaim the truth in a particularly eloquent way, one that makes you think about a certain truth a little differently. This one totally roundhouse-kicked my emotional brain though, and initially, I neglected to think about what it really says. There is an element of truth to it...but, and forgive me for critiquing Mr. Frost, its not said correctly.
Silly Robert Frost...love is not a feeling, its not even a strong desire. (As I've already stumbled through discoursing desires, check out 2 posts ago.) Love is a choice, a conscious action....a complete self-gift. I will agree with Bobby Frost; we all have "an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." Duh. Its...kinda what landed Adam with Eve in the garden. Its only the deepest longing of our hearts...to be loved. Its a wish for what we already know is real: that God jealously desires our hearts for His own. But Love is not that "irresisitable desire to be irresistibly desired." Love is our response to that "irresistible desire." So, props to you, Mr. Frost, but don't be so confusing next time... Monday, November 15, 2010
"No, really April. I got this!"
I cannot recall any brilliant theological, philosophical or intellectual insights that I pondered from this last week or so...so I'm just going to talk about my fabulous weekend, and what I think about it...
Well, it was SUPPOSED to start with a trip to pray/protest at Planned Parenthood on Saturday morning, followed by a 3-hr service project that involved 8 people in my CLC. Next, I was going to sneak over to K-State and visit some friends, who would remain completely ignorant of my presence in their midst until about 9:30 that evening...I knew that somehow my hostess and I would devise some deviously genius plot to dupe them all...
However, God had other things in mind. And we ALL know what happens when He gets ideas...Hawks for Life ended up not going to Planned Parenthood, my 3-hour, 8-man service project became a 1 1/2-hour, 4-man service project. And as for my devious surprise? Heh. Yeah...In hindsight, it may not have been the best idea to hide me from my Catholic friends in the 7 Dolors adoration chapel...but really, who could have guessed that the Holy Spirit would work through my friend's Pandora station, encouraging him to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the same span of 45 minutes that I was there? If that wasn't divine Providence, then God doesn't exist...
So, major theme of the weekend: God's plans, especially the surprise ones, always are cooler than mine...I can promise you that telling His story about my friend ruining his own surprise is much funnier than my story about jumping out from around the corner shouting "surprise!" at RC McGraws. God's plans always seem to work out more smoothly too...and that baffles me. I put a lot of work into my plans...must be something to do with His all-powerful, divine omnipotence...
But more seriously. How awesome is it, to be someone who professes faith in a Being that is truly, All-powerful? SomeOne who controls every miniscule detail of our lives? How awesome is it to know that there is a beautifully perfect design in this seemingly chaotic existence that we continue to misunderstand, day after day?
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways above your ways and My thoughts above your thoughts."
~Isaiah 55:8-9
Coming from someone who left this weekend with several hilarious stories about pretty eyes, engineering jokes and caroling adventures with brownies, I'd say pretty darn awesome. :)
Peace and grace to you!
Well, it was SUPPOSED to start with a trip to pray/protest at Planned Parenthood on Saturday morning, followed by a 3-hr service project that involved 8 people in my CLC. Next, I was going to sneak over to K-State and visit some friends, who would remain completely ignorant of my presence in their midst until about 9:30 that evening...I knew that somehow my hostess and I would devise some deviously genius plot to dupe them all...
However, God had other things in mind. And we ALL know what happens when He gets ideas...Hawks for Life ended up not going to Planned Parenthood, my 3-hour, 8-man service project became a 1 1/2-hour, 4-man service project. And as for my devious surprise? Heh. Yeah...In hindsight, it may not have been the best idea to hide me from my Catholic friends in the 7 Dolors adoration chapel...but really, who could have guessed that the Holy Spirit would work through my friend's Pandora station, encouraging him to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the same span of 45 minutes that I was there? If that wasn't divine Providence, then God doesn't exist...
So, major theme of the weekend: God's plans, especially the surprise ones, always are cooler than mine...I can promise you that telling His story about my friend ruining his own surprise is much funnier than my story about jumping out from around the corner shouting "surprise!" at RC McGraws. God's plans always seem to work out more smoothly too...and that baffles me. I put a lot of work into my plans...must be something to do with His all-powerful, divine omnipotence...
But more seriously. How awesome is it, to be someone who professes faith in a Being that is truly, All-powerful? SomeOne who controls every miniscule detail of our lives? How awesome is it to know that there is a beautifully perfect design in this seemingly chaotic existence that we continue to misunderstand, day after day?
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways above your ways and My thoughts above your thoughts."
~Isaiah 55:8-9
Coming from someone who left this weekend with several hilarious stories about pretty eyes, engineering jokes and caroling adventures with brownies, I'd say pretty darn awesome. :)
Peace and grace to you!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Desire...Good or Bad?
"You called, and shouted, and burst my deafness.
You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness.
You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for You.
I tasted, and I hunger and thirst.
You touched me, and I burned for Your peace."
~St. Augustine, Confessions
What does it mean to truly desire something? To me, desire means feeling almost irrevocably drawn to something or someone. Some of us desire the opportunity for service: to be able to make this world a little better by our actions. College students often desire a vision for their lives. It would save us a lot of trouble if we simply had a career path laid out for us to follow, without this silly discernmet process that can really be quite a headache. A lot of us females desire a family, having kids, being married, sometimes we even just desire having a boyfriend. But in reality, I think that the desires we have for things here on earth are really products of our misguided search for God and His purpose in our lives. Earlier in IConfessions, St. Augustine talks about being distracted by and desiring things which "if they were not in [God] were not at all." He describes God calling and shouting, opening our eyes and ears in order to find Him, through the things of this world. Doesn't it make sense that God plants in our hearts a desire for Him and His will, since He knows what is best for us and what will make us happiest?
When people desire anything to an excessive degree, they immediately lose their peace of soul."
~Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
My friend has told me about some recurring feelings she has for a mutual friend of ours. He is a good young man, a solid Christian keeper. But she doesn't understand why they won't go away, because she doesn't want to act on them and claims to not be at a stage in her life where dating/courtship is prudent. So are these desires of her heart wrong? While thinking about this, I remembered a question Father Jarrod Lies asked us once in a homily. He asked: "Where are your desires leading you?" And I think that is the more appropriate question.
In harmony with St. Augustine and Thomas A Kempis' words, I would say that genuine desires are not necessarily good or bad; they are simply the motivation of our hearts toward finding the presence of God. We look for love and peace wherever possible, and the multitude of broken hearts and unplanned pregnancies in this world result from trying to find it in the wrong places. The desire for love is not of itself good or bad; it is where we allow that desire to take us and what means we use to achieve the end of love that determines our "peace of soul." We might desire food when we're hungry, growth in a new friendship, a good grade on a test. We might find ourselves overwhelmed with desires for material things, for wordly success, for lust. But if we offer these desires up to God, He will lead us through them, because He knows that these things we seem to want are part of our search for His love. He knows that He is what we really desire.
Peace and grace to you!
April :)
PS-Comment please!
You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness.
You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for You.
I tasted, and I hunger and thirst.
You touched me, and I burned for Your peace."
~St. Augustine, Confessions
What does it mean to truly desire something? To me, desire means feeling almost irrevocably drawn to something or someone. Some of us desire the opportunity for service: to be able to make this world a little better by our actions. College students often desire a vision for their lives. It would save us a lot of trouble if we simply had a career path laid out for us to follow, without this silly discernmet process that can really be quite a headache. A lot of us females desire a family, having kids, being married, sometimes we even just desire having a boyfriend. But in reality, I think that the desires we have for things here on earth are really products of our misguided search for God and His purpose in our lives. Earlier in IConfessions, St. Augustine talks about being distracted by and desiring things which "if they were not in [God] were not at all." He describes God calling and shouting, opening our eyes and ears in order to find Him, through the things of this world. Doesn't it make sense that God plants in our hearts a desire for Him and His will, since He knows what is best for us and what will make us happiest?
When people desire anything to an excessive degree, they immediately lose their peace of soul."
~Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
My friend has told me about some recurring feelings she has for a mutual friend of ours. He is a good young man, a solid Christian keeper. But she doesn't understand why they won't go away, because she doesn't want to act on them and claims to not be at a stage in her life where dating/courtship is prudent. So are these desires of her heart wrong? While thinking about this, I remembered a question Father Jarrod Lies asked us once in a homily. He asked: "Where are your desires leading you?" And I think that is the more appropriate question.
In harmony with St. Augustine and Thomas A Kempis' words, I would say that genuine desires are not necessarily good or bad; they are simply the motivation of our hearts toward finding the presence of God. We look for love and peace wherever possible, and the multitude of broken hearts and unplanned pregnancies in this world result from trying to find it in the wrong places. The desire for love is not of itself good or bad; it is where we allow that desire to take us and what means we use to achieve the end of love that determines our "peace of soul." We might desire food when we're hungry, growth in a new friendship, a good grade on a test. We might find ourselves overwhelmed with desires for material things, for wordly success, for lust. But if we offer these desires up to God, He will lead us through them, because He knows that these things we seem to want are part of our search for His love. He knows that He is what we really desire.
Peace and grace to you!
April :)
PS-Comment please!
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