Month: November 2015

• Gratitude and Surprises

  

  “Gratitude” has been an interesting word to think about for a whole year. Last December when I chose “Gratitude” to be my special word to ponder for 2015 (instead of making any New Year’s Resolutions), I had no idea how much my perspective on everyday life would be altered by thinking about being grateful every […]

  Marian

  November 30, 2015

  God’s Love, Jail Ministry, Life’s Challenges, Reflections, Reunions

  best new thing, grateful, gratitude, gratitude jar, Hy-Vee, Jeff Vanden Heuvel, Jesus Calling, Pastor Jeff, pray without ceasing, praying together, sarah young, special word, thankful, thankfulness, timeshare, Wisconsin Dells

• Gratitude for Thanksgivings Past

  

  One day last week when Mim and I were out walking Floey, Mim asked me, “Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving this year?” I thought for a minute, and then replied, “Not really. I’m not dreading it, but I’m not excited about it. We don’t really have any special plans. Oh, we’ll have a nice […]

  Marian

  November 24, 2015

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  candy corn, family Thanksgiving traditions, gratitude, Happy Thanksgiving, Jesus Calling, mixed nuts, nut cups, peanuts, sarah young, thankful, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving in Chicago, Thanksgiving pizza, Thanksgiving tradition, tiny treasures, tradition, turkey dinner, working with mom

• The Best Thing about Darkness

  There seems to be much more darkness in the world today than there was a week ago, when I last posted my thoughts on this blog. In the most literal sense, the sun rose 9 minutes later today than it rose a week ago, and it will set 7 minutes earlier than it set a […]

  Marian

  November 17, 2015

  God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  CaringBridge, darkness, daylight, display of hope, fireflies, firefly, friends, God’s love, kindness, life challenges, life changes, love your neighbor, My Personal Daily Prayer Book, Paris, Paris attacks, poverty, reflections, terrorist, terrorist attacks, valley of death

• No Vacuum in this Mind

  

  My mind is incapable of tolerating a vacuum. It always finds something to be anxious about, or some problem to be solving, or at least some imminent decisions to be mulling over. Often there are multiple urgent thoughts competing for my attention. Then my mind might start thrashing – a technical computer term that kind […]

  Marian

  November 10, 2015

  Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  choice, Choice is the holiest of the virtues, choice of action, choices, Christmas Mountain, decisions, getting a new car, gratitude, Joan Chittister, John Dewey, joy, kindness, MacBook, Monastic Way, mulling over, Prius V, selling the farmhouse, special word, The Monastic Way, The things we love tell us who we are, Thomas Aquinas, thoughts, thrashing, vacuum, Victor Frankl, virtues, Windows laptop

• Thanks, Maria. That Gives me an idea.

  

  A couple years ago, around the first of November, Chaplain Julia of the Jail Ministry invited the women inmates worshiping together in the jail chapel to tell each other about some of their family traditions related to Halloween and All Saints Day. She especially encouraged Maria to explain to us what her friends and family […]

  Marian

  November 3, 2015

  Celebrations, Jail Ministry, Personal Retreats, Reflections

  All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Aztec, Christian celebrations, Day of the Dead, departed loved ones, Dia de los Muertos, favorite foods, favorite meal, Halloween, jail, jail ministry, Memorial Day, Presbyterian Church