Happy Birthday Eliza!

Lovely Eliza, this picture says it all:  sweet, funny, friendly, silly.  What would we do without you!  You are such a special gift!  love, Mom and Dad

Lent and Preparing for the Prize

I'm running a race on Saturday.  It's really not that long - 8K - but the significance of it is HUGE for me.  It is the first race I've run in over 2 years.  My first race since my pregnancy with Brayden, since bedrest and a c-section.  The fact that I'm even up for running it feels like a tremendous victory to me. For the past 8 weeks, I've been focused on preparing for the day - March 12th.   It has been on my calendar for months and all my training was with this race in mind.  The rigor of the training has been so satisfying.  The date on the calendar has been so helpful for my staying focused.  But, truth be told, I'm terribly afraid to face the day after the race.  Will I continue to willingly push myself so hard?  Is my own health and fitness enough of a goal?  If I'm completely honest, I have to admit, sometimes it just isn't.

Until not too many years ago, I thought Lent was about giving up chocolate or sweets.  And maybe for some, it is.  But really, it has the potential to be so, so much more than that.  Lent is, for my heart, what the past 8 weeks have been for my body - a season of focused preparation with my eye on the goal.  This morning, I could almost hear a collective sigh of relief as we all arose to the beginning of this Holy season.   Finally, finally, this sacred season that begins so late this year is here.  This season that, through it's discipline and structure, helps us see more clearly that which we truly long for.  This season that helps us scrape away all the unnecessaries and distractions........those things that "aren't helpful to us", as Fr. Buda said in this morning's Mass.....so that we can see that which we're really made for.  Because, ultimately, heaven is our goal isn't it?  Ash Wednesday, Lent, Easter are all just markers along the path.  Sacred markers, but still not the true prize.  The weightiness of deprivation that Lent can bring serves not only to make the joy of the Resurrection all the sweeter but also to remind me to stay focused on the True Prize the rest of the year as well.

How grateful I am for the gentle cadence of the liturgical year to provide steady rhythm and focus for this wandering heart.  God knows I need it!

Happy Birthday Juliette!

"They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor."

Isaiah 60:21

Before you were born, when we and so many others cried out to the Lord to save you and heal you from your defective lung, this was the verse we chose for you.  Here we are, 12 years later, and you continue to display the spendor of the Lord.  You are the work of His hands, sweet Juliette.  You were formed and molded to be just who you are - beautiful inside and out, generous, tender, creative.  I am so thankful for how God shows Himself to our family through you!  We love you.