Was thinking recently about the serenity prayer (one of my all time favorites) and happened to find this funny and true updated version from Fr James Martin:

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I’m clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.

And while you’re at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.
It’s better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying,
I can’t change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter
than everyone else in the room,
that no one knows what they’re talking about except me,
or that I alone have all the answers.

Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember that I’m
not you.

Amen

“See!  I will not forget you…I have carved you on the palm of my hand.”

Isaiah 49:15-16

When I was received into the Catholic Church at Easter in 1996 my sponsor gave me the small plaque pictured above.  I have always loved it and the message it conveys.  I remember during the time (about 9 months) we spent in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) feeling taken care of by God, feeling that He had his hands under me and was supporting me on the journey.

Recently I have been experiencing the same sense of just how much God is loving us, cradling us, and taking care of us – all the time.  Not only has He been protecting my children and keeping them safe in dangerous conditions, He has also placed me in a job that uses all of the gifts that He has given me. Continue reading “Cradled in the Palm of His Hand” →

“If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” John 20:23

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

An absolutely lovely benefit of going back to work is that our family agreed we need to get some cleaning help.  We haven’t had a cleaning service or person in 10 years.  I always felt like I should do it on my own since I wasn’t working outside the home.  Even when I was working as an interior decorator I could still get most of the house work done.  It was not really quality cleaning, but it was passable.

So, the new cleaning folks came this week (they are fantastic) and I now know that I am probably the worst house cleaner ever.  Apparently I either don’t see the dirt Continue reading “Cleaning House” →

“The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Psalm 145:9

“Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love.”            1 Corinthians 13:13

The last five days have been some of the hardest of my life as a parent.  I have felt so many emotions – fear, relief, sadness, anger, elation, disappointment, and mostly love.  Mostly love.  Love trumps all of the other emotions.

At first, when fear was running the show, I had a hard time seeing God’s hand in what had happened.  Fear is paralyzing, and it blinds us.  Fear is sometimes understandable, but it is not from God.  Fear is our enemy.  Trust is the way to peace.  Trusting that God has a plan even in the middle of circumstances that seem unimaginably hard, that is how we find peace in the middle of chaos.  Knowing in our hearts that He loves us more than we can imagine, that is what I have been clinging to in the last few days.

And then there is the window after a crisis happens, a window where we can clearly see that God’s hand was there guiding us, shaping us, caring for us in ways that we don’t understand.  God loves us so much that He forgives us and saves us even though we don’t deserve it.

Living under God’s Mercy is to live in His Grace, Continue reading “Under the Mercy” →