Give Thanks

It's just known that every year with the season change a cold will go around, and eventually we will all be sick, and it will be a battle throughout the winter to not be sick. Last week all my classmates and one of my housemates got the sickness, which meant my turn was coming. My housemates decided that if I were to be one of the seven dwarfs off Snow White I would be sneezy because I'm always sick.
That being said, I woke up yesterday morning with the sickness. Stuffy nose red, watery eyes, the works - which makes for a super grumpy and whiny Amber. I was determined to see the positive throughout the day, by giving thanks. So I thought I'd share with you some of the things I have thanks for.

Things I'm thankful for:
Close parking spots
Sun shining on my face
A sweet text message from a loved one
Homemade chicken noodle soup
Lecture not taught by PowerPoint
Laughter
Coffee
Good music (sidewalk prophets)
My ability to get an education
Seeing an old friend
Cooking dinner with my sister
Hot chocolate with marshmallows
Pilates
Quiet
Prayer

There's a few things from me, what are some things you're thankful for? How do you get through some of those longer days

Monday Memo

Well, today we have three quotes because as I was browsing for quotes there were these three that really stuck out to me, and I think they all go really well together. Have a blessed week friends!

"Almighty and Eternal God, behold I come to the Sacrament of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sick, I come to the Physician of life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the Light of eternal splendor; poor and needy, to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I beg of You, through Your infinite mercy and generosity, heal my weakness, wash my uncleanness, give light to my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness. May I thus receive the Bread of Angels, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, with such reverence and humility, contrition and devotion, purity and faith, purpose and intention, as shall aid my soul's salvation ..."


"To love God is something greater than to know Him."


"Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you."

See the Positive

This week had the potential to be "the worst week of my life". I had a lot of school work, I wasn't sleeping well, I was quitting my job...all these things and on top of it all I'm getting sick. AKA worst week ever....but not really.

Yesterday, as I started off my morning had the potential to be really bad. I had an anatomy exam and I didn't feel like I had properly prepared for it. I had a little bit of a headache. I had gotten less than five hours of sleep. I was turning in my notice for quitting my job. Definitely anticipated it being a horrid day. But it was not because one - our God is an awesome God, and all things go well when we entrust them to the man upstairs.

So I met with friends at Starbucks at 8 am. When I ordered my coffee I couldn't quite talk straight just yet because I was so tired (those of you who know me know what I'm talking about). And then my friends got there and we started chatting, laughing, studying - the day was already looking up. Then we went and took our exam and it was easier than anticipated and we all walked out feeling pretty decent about our exam. Then we did this meditation in my pilates class that I love, and it helped to relieve all my stress. I found out my microbiology exam got moved from Friday (tomorrow) to next week on Wednesday - which lifted a ton of weight off my shoulders. And lastly I turned in my two weeks notice and everything went smoothly, my boss didn't try to talk me into staying or anything, and it just worked perfectly. So basically God is good.

And if we look for the positive things in our life, then our lives will be that much more enjoyable. So seek to be positive, give thanks for the day God has given us.

Monday Memo

"We are to love God for Himself, 
because of a twofold reason;
nothing is more reasonable, 
nothing more profitable." 
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux

A Sure Foundation

So, I have been renewing my Marian Consecration to Jesus and one of today's readings was Matt. 26:36-46, the passage of Jesus at Gethsemane. Today I was really reflecting on how imperfect and weak we are humans. Jesus asks his disciples to stay and keep watch in prayer while he goes away, and when Jesus returns the first time the disciples are asleep. He goes away again, and when he returns they are asleep again. They cannot even keep watch for one hour. We, in our human imperfection, are so weak that we often cannot keep in prayer one house without growing tired or distracted. I know I'm so often distracted in my prayer time either but what's going on around me, or by how much I wish I was asleep in the time that I'm praying. Without Jesus we are nothing, as I read over this passage today it struck me how when Jesus was off praying to his Father the disciples could not keep vigil. They could do little because Jesus' presence was essentially lacking.

Then I went throughout my day, and today was a beautiful day. I was blessed to be able to see God in many places, and truly see his blessings reign down on me. So I'm going through out my day, and my last class today is pilates, and today we were doing this meditation for part of class, which the professor was quite excited about. Basically in this exercise we lay down on our backs and take deep breaths where we allow ourselves to sink into the floor. It is encouraged to simply breathe and let go of all that is weighing us down. And as we're doing this I really feel my stress, my anxiety, my exhaustion leaving my body. It felt as if I totally emptied myself and I was just deflated onto the floor, (which might sound strange, but stick with me here) and all the while I just say the name of Jesus over and over again in my heart and in my head. As I'm resting there I feel the firmness of the ground under me, all the while repeating the name of Jesus, and it strikes me how much Jesus is our rock, on which we stand firm, but also in whom we can rest.

Often times when I think of Jesus as the rock, I picture like a storm or something where would easily be able to slip or fall, but we stand on Jesus and he protects us, which is most definitely true, but I never really thought about the resting aspect. Jesus is a rock on which we can rest as well.

May we rest quietly, calmly, and firmly in our Lord and Savior, whom we can do nothing without!

God bless!

Monday Memo

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Part of the breast plate of St. Patrick! Happy Monday :)

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Eucharisteo. Give Thanks for the Little Things

This week has been interesting, in that every day I looked through my schedule, my agenda, my to do list, whatever you want to call it and had that "when am I even going to breathe" feeling. I kept thinking to myself, this only week 2, I can't do this the whole semester. I'll be having a melt down the end of next week at this rate. Then I got out of both labs early on Tuesday giving me an opportunity to eat my pb&j in more than a 5 minute window and giving time to sit in a quiet coffee shop with my pumpkin spice latte and a notebook to just write, and process through a lot of my thoughts. Then Wednesday, well that day was just crazy, and I wasn't feeling good so I just went to bed around 6:30.... So come Thursday morning, I'm slightly panicked because I didn't read over any of my labs or study for any of my quizzes that day...uh-oh. So I go to lab and just take it as it is...well turns out for anatomy lab there wasn't really any pre-reading that needed to be done, and for microbiology lab the professor changed the lab we were doing, and my quizzes for both labs were easy. Praise the Lord! I got out of lab early again, and was took the opportunity of this free time to go to confession and take my prayer time. Now, as I had previously stated - this week was one of those "go go go" weeks, so when I sat down in the quiet church to take my prayer time, I had this urge to buzz through this time of day that I was "giving to God" so I could move onto the next thing. It was like I just wanted to be able to check that off my to-do list for the day. Which is definitely not the approach to be taking with our prayer time.

During this time I felt the Lord just moving in my heart to sit in silence. Someone was telling me the other day there was parishioner at their church who went to daily mass and afterwards would just sit in silence for long periods of time. One day the priest asked the man what he was doing, and he said I look at Him, and He looks back at me. This person literally just took time each day in silence with Jesus, before the alter, where he wasn't talking or reading or anything, he was just present. This really struck me.

We need to just be. If we're feeling stressed, if we're feeling overwhelmed, if we're feeling like we just need to rush from thing to thing to thing to thing, and it almost seems as if we just can't even breathe, then we need to pause. What needs to give? Where do I need to remove something to lift the weight off my shoulder? This is what I have been evaluating, and reflecting on this week, and there's not much I can do to have an immediate fix to my problem, and the Lord sees this. Therefore, He has been providing little opportunities for me each day. They're his little gifts to me.

Like Tuesday, I was released from lab early enough to have a coffee date with myself. Thursday he provided me with an opportunity to be present with him in the Eucharist, and gave me an unexpected gift of an easy lab day. Our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, and for this we shall give thanks. In each moment of our lives there is an opportunity for us to give thanks. Let us give thanks, and praise God for the little things.

Monday Memo: Silence

"We have a need for silence. Because of quietness we are able to recognize the Lord before us" -Fr. Michael

This was actually from the homily from Sunday mass yesterday.

We need silence in our lives. I've noticed a change in my own life, in taking quiet time each morning to give my day to God and enter into conversation with him. I encourage all of you to spend that time in silence, don't be surprised if soon find yourself desiring more silence in your life!