Holy ordinary Advent breezed in this weekend without the pomp and circumstance we might be inclined to give it, just as it does every year—with dimmed lights, flickering candles and space for quiet—everyday reminders to help carve out space for the holy in our ordinary. Even more fittingly, we celebrated the arrival of our Church’s’ […]
A tale of two Advents Read More »
A prayer in Advent Christ of my heart, I can feel your nearness. I want so badly to touch you and feel you with me. I hear stories of violence, war and voices calling out to the love they know is You and I imagine your heart pulled toward these calls–reaching out to touch them,
Light of the nations. You are my hope. I come to you in the darkness–morning and night–looking to the One who out of love, became human. I am seeking signs of Your light. With a single candle lit, I will wait. Watching in unlikely places for movement,that my heart, too, might be moved. Moved from places of blindness to
Elizabeth of Hungary was a great many things in her relatively short life–princess, Third Order Franciscan, wife, mother, widow. We celebrate her feast today as a woman of means who felt deep compassion for those who went without: How can I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown and thorns and
A couple of my favorite ladies Read More »
Day 31! I have been so encouraged as I have dug into this #green31 challenge to find practical, important ways to incorporate global thinking (world-saving, as I refer to it some days) into daily practice. I have to say it’s empowering when I look at a list of 31 different ways–many of which I
One of the easiest ways to celebrate a season is to head outside. What does it smell like? Feel like? Look like? What’s on the ground? What color are the clouds? Next time you’re out, gather a few things that can point to the season. Better yet, invite your niece/nephew/child/neighbor/kiddos you nanny for into this
Use what you’ve got Read More »
Upon inquiring about the process of washing her ziplock bags, one of the sweetest Franciscans I ever met asked me, sarcastically, how else I hoped to get to heaven? And she’s right, I think–maybe not about bag washing as salvific, but as… penitential. There is something penitential about washing these bags which can be so
Last winter we had a washer/dryer maintenance man out to our house about four times before we realized that we had a sneakily-wedged Elsa sock stuck in our washer’s drain. Over the course of those visits, I spent some time talking with the man disassembling our washing machine. I learned a handful of really useful
Ditch dryer sheets Read More »
Perhaps the most mundane and efficient way to reduce waste, is not to pick it up in the first place. Plastic bags accompany nearly every shopping trip we take–some stores who take their work especially seriously, will double bag all of your bags. Leaving you with a quickly-mulitiplying load of bags that aren’t good for
Man, is this a challenge pointed at me! Admittedly this whole #green31 project was inspired in part to assuage my own guilt for driving (& not a hybrid) everywhere and anywhere I need to go. I do try to give myself at least a day a week where (other than school) I’m not going anywhere.
walk, ride, carpool Read More »