faith

  • Steps

    Steps

    After a busy couple of days of Christmas church singing, merrymaking, eating, and cleaning, I needed to clear my head, so I bundled up to walk in the sunny but frigid twenty-degree day. Podcast in my ears and eyes to the sky, I headed out. It was an icy, winding path, but the sun was…

  • See

    See

    December 23, 2017 Dear God, As we come to the end of 2017, I am reflecting on this year’s word: story. There certainly were ups and downs in these last twelve months, and things I couldn’t have predicted. At the start of the year, I could not have guessed how much I would rely on…

  • Ordained

    Ordained

    Late last night, I was reading my kindle next to my sleeping husband when I suddenly felt the presence of God. To me, it feels like a lightness in my chest and an overwhelming peace and awe. I’ve been fortunate to experience this a few times in my life, but, honestly, it had been a…

  • JOY

    JOY

    I’ve met a few Christians who, when faced with a trying situation, advocate acceptance. On the outside, that doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. It’s more pleasant than the seeming alternative, the gnashing of teeth and twisting of hands that can come when we meet a difficult obstacle. In a scenario in which we…

  • Lens

    Lens

    See with a God-shaped lens, and set your minds toward hope. Here is not our home.

  • First

    First

    We were waiting for a table at Bickford’s, a very rare post-mass breakfast out with the family. I was probably only six or seven years old, but I vividly remember the smell of pancakes, my sisters and I huddled in the restaurant entryway in our winter coats. There was much more than syrup on my…

  • Vision

    Vision

    In hopeful, clear moments, I see that the Lord is actually in this place, in what can seem to me like desert. And sometimes I’m sleeping on stone.

  • Wednesday

    Wednesday

    One Wednesday morning, I was filled with anxiety. There are things I can’t change, as much as I want to. I had not slept well. I went to mass and breakfast with my Dad. I saw Jim O. and Maura T. and Fr. George and each of them was so graceful in their light-bringing that…

  • Advent

    Advent

    It was the day after Thanksgiving, and the traditional start to the Christmas season, but I didn’t feel like Christmas.

  • Retreat

    I was on retreat this weekend with a group of women and I had somewhat of a leadership role. I gave a talk, and helped facilitate conversations, but mostly I was in the retreat experience along with everyone else. It might have been easy for the women to believe that the ‘leaders’ among the group…