The Day Before Christmas Eve

Over the last forty-eight years Dec 23^rd has become one of my favorite days.  It is a day to recall an event in history that changed my life.  I was not sure what I was getting into when I said “I do”…but I had my suspicions.   Fortunately my suspicions were correct.  It has been an adventure and with all adventures come difficulties…difficulties that you over come. 

Thank you, Miss Mary for the adventure of a lifetime.  Please accept my apologies for being so difficult.  Thanks for showing me what real love is.

Always yours

Happy Anniversary

Gene

All I Want For Christmas

There is no need for a plastic card

All those payments, much too hard.

Do not listen to advertising lures

Their empty promise never cures.

There's something else so much better

Better than a love letter.

While it couldn’t be any stranger

The gift was found in a manger.

All the treasures do not equal

What will follow in the sequel.

That baby boy, the son of man

Had the answer, the salvation plan.

For you and me he showed the way

How we escape this melee.

Peace and joy for you and yours

This I know Christ assures.

For this I pray on Christmas day

All good things come your way.

Amen

Once Upon A Time

As I dried the white dinner plate and stacked it away with the assortment of mismatched place settings…it sparked a flash back to my childhood.  Those were the days of family dinners…the days of no fast foods…the days of having to do the dishes by hand.  Oh!  How I hated that chore.

I did not understand why I had to do such a grueling unpleasant task when I could have been outside riding my bike, throwing a stick or skipping rocks across the water. 

Still even worse was the family’s saying of the Holy Rosary.  How I dreaded that before bed activity.  I wasted that time daydreaming of shooting squirrels with my Red Rider BB gun.  Yes…with that “shoot your eye out” BB gun that never appeared under my Christmas tree.

Now, almost three quarters of a century later, I enjoy washing dishes.  I like the feel of hot soapy water...cleaning the greasy pots and pans, drying and putting away the dishes.  I find it to be a most satisfying experience…perhaps therapeutic, possibly prayerful.  

Even stranger…the Rosary…is now, my go-to prayer.  The Rosary transports me to a better place with no need to skip rocks, ride bikes or shoot squirrels.  It’s kinda like a warm fuzzy daydream that fills me with hope.  The prayer calms my fears, wipes my tears and speaks to my soul.  It speaks to my soul about who is in charge, who will take care of me and who invites me to be like him.

I am not who I used to be.  Life…God’s grace…has changed me…Hopefully I am a better version of myself. 

Dear Lord:

Although I'm scared,
Thru life I've fared.
You did not care,

I’ve been elsewhere.

You spare no cost,

When I was lost.

You call me home,

When I roam.

You’re always there,

For my welfare.

You’ve done it all,

You took the fall.

I can’t repay,

In any way,

The things You’ve done,

That were not fun.

For nothing can replace
Your amazing grace.  

And all I can do 

Is say "Thank You"

Amen

Judgmental

At Sunday Mass…from the corner of my eye I caught an adolescent returning to his pew just as the Host was being raised at the Consecration. 

I thought how could anyone be so oblivious to the fact that this is the most important part of the Mass.  When I was a kid.  First…to my knowledge…there were no restrooms to which one could escape. And second…no one would ever attempt such an escape for fear of the “Look”…that "wait till we get home" look.

I just couldn’t believe that anyone would have the audacity to leave during the middle of Mass.  As I mentally shook my Pharisee finger…it occurred to me that I had just returned to my pew from a far-away daydream.  

Wow!  That was a splinter in the eye moment…actually a log in the eye.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you, Lord, for this conviction

Please accept my contrition

Help me so I never falter

And never leave You at the altar.

Amen

Good Morning God

Come Holy Spirit jump-start my day

No need for Starbucks’ expensive cofé

Come dwell in my heart, always to stay

This simple request I wish to convey.

For I am weak with feet of clay

So give me strength never to stray

From God’s word, please, if you may

And so it is, Lord, this prayer I pray.

Amen

A Prayer For You

Do not let the world destroy

All your beautiful peace and joy

When someday you do look back

Things won’t seem so out of whack.

I prayed God make you wise enough

To handle all that crazy stuff.

When you think it's all too much

Ask the Lord for his peaceful touch.

So I prayed this prayer for you today

That God bless you in a special way

I asked He send some extra grace

For all the problems that you face.

Amen.

My Morning Meditation

Luke 22  Peter’s Denial of Jesus.

 …“After arresting him they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance.  They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat down with them.  When a maid saw him seated in the light, she looked intently at him and said, “This man too was with him.”  But he denied it saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”  A short while later someone else saw him and said, “You too are one of them”; but Peter answered, “My friend, I am not.”  About an hour later, still another insisted, “Assuredly, this man too was with him, for he also is a Galilean.”  But Peter said, “My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.” Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed,  and the Lord turned and looked at Peter;  and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.”   He went out and began to weep bitterly.”…

So what is God saying to me?

God is not saying anything…He just turns and looks at me…and I know that if there was ever a time that I could fill Simon’s sandals this is it.  That devastating look of love...love and mercy that convicts the soul.

Dear Lord Jesus…

You, my Lord, have paid the toll/

That fateful day upon a knoll.

Hanging there nailed to that Pole/

Your precious blood made me whole.

Through my days I can’t simply stroll/

Your look of love convicts my soul.

Of my life please take control/

I pray, my Lord, this be my goal.

Amen.

A Goat In Sheep’s Clothing

Today’s first reading…in Paul’s letter to the Romans…he wrote, “I do not do the good I want but do the evil I do not want”.  I see myself like him…“Miserable one that I am”.

I muse about the about the Son of Man coming in his glory and separating one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats…and I speculate...perhaps I’m a goat in sheep’s clothing.

Dear Lord Jesus,

I do not do the good I want

Listening to the devil’s taunt.

I do not need to take this jaunt

It causes nothing but trouble and haunt.

As I approach my final sleep

I see my life in a heap.

I fret and ponder thoughts so deep

It gives me cause to cry and weep.

O’ my soul so thin and gaunt

 ‘tis your help I truly want

Now I pledge Your Word to keep.

No more a goat…now a sheep.

Amen

A Recovering Recluse

Being a self proclaimed introvert I tend to keep away from other people.  I don’t deal with drama very well…especially their drama.  Adequate social skills have eluded me…engaging in casual conversation is next to impossible.  To chat, to gossip, or to participate in shallow drivel seems like meaningless communication and a colossal waste of time.  Yet…on another level…I realize I’m missing some element of showing that I care about others. 

 It is so much more comfortable to hide in my closet scribbling my thoughts, musings and reflecting while I avoid others and their drama. 

Dear Lord Jesus, 

For this I pray

Give me the gumption today

To come out of my inner room and say,

“Hello” to someone who may 

Need your love in a special way.

I realize it is not right

To hide my candle’s light

Under a bushel basket

That may become my casket.

Amen

What Is God Saying To Me?

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning and you will not be condemning.  Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Luke 6: 37

Yes Lord, I know, I must stop my gnat straining, camel swallowing ways/

And picking the splinter from my brother’s eye never pays.

So come Holy Spirit and change my heart/

Because from you, Lord, I cannot be apart.
Amen.