Monday Memo

Rejoice always. 

Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks always

for it is the will of God

in Christ Jesus.

 - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Jesus is constantly speaking to us, and seeking to win over our hearts. The past few weeks Jesus has been placing a theme of gratitude in my prayer and in my daily life. I find myself constantly looking for what I'm thankful for, and asking myself 'how is God revealing His love for me today?' Yesterday I went to adoration, and the last part of this verse was the Gospel proclamation yesterday, so I looked it up in my bible, and was struck by this whole part. 

Rejoice always, pray always, give thanks always. But the funny thing is - these are all tied together. If we give thanks always, we are looking for how God is loving us, thus we are praying always - and if we are looking at how well God is loving us then it is quite easy to rejoice. Pray, give thanks, rejoice. 

Happy Monday friends! and God bless you!

Rain Drops Dancing on the Street

As I sit here working on a gratitude talk, a rain storm has started here in Columbus, and I find myself pausing to watch the rain. We have an attic fan in our house, so we have that one bringing in the cool, rain-scented air. My roommate and I sit here working and continually sigh of happiness and contentment with the weather.

A warm cup of tea. A good book. My journal. My bible. My favorite pen. Good music.

Sometimes we take the little things for granted, or we get annoyed by the inconvenience rain may cause us. However, other times it is so clear, so easy to see God's presence working in our lives. A friend posted on facebook that a child told her she was beautiful, and another told her she had beautiful hair - Jesus gave her a little extra loving through little children today.

I work in a hospital, and I try to look for Jesus when I'm there - I mean, he is the Divine Physician, so he's clearly present in a hospital setting. One time I saw him through a father loving his sick daughter. I see him through a son loving his father. Those are the 'easy' ones per say. Some of the hard ones have been when I am with a patient who starts acting at. One time a patient hopped out bed and started running down the halls, going into patients rooms, and through the help of other staff we were able to get him into bed, and calm him down. After this night, I left feeling a little distressed, but then as I was driving home, I asked myself - where was Jesus in this situation? I realized then that Jesus was present in me... this patient can be seen as the follower of Christ rebelling against Jesus, and lashing out on Jesus - where I am in Jesus, loving this person regardless of him hurting me, and staying with him through the hard time. Jesus does that through us.

Seeing Jesus in all scenarios is challenging, and it's something we learn. "I have learned the secret of being well fed and of being hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need." Phil. 4:12

Gratitude, eucharisteo - thanksgiving and joy - is not something found over night, but something we learn in a slow, life-long process. We start with the easy, and as it's easier to give thanks in the easy times, we begin to look for thanksgiving opportunities in the hard too.

May we rejoice in the little things, the rain drops dancing on the street.

Monday memo: Love our Lady

Love our lady and she will help you conquer in your daily struggle. 

St. Josemaria e

Monday Memo: Divine Mercy Edition

O life so dull and monotonous, how man treasure you contain! I look at everything with the eyes of faith, no two hours are alike, and the dullness and monotony disappear. The grace which is given me in the hour will not be repeated in the next. It may be given me again, but it will not be the same grace. Time goes on never to return again. Whatever is enclosed in it will never change; it seals with a seal for eternity. Diary if st faustina 

The Art of Letting Go

Well, it has been some time since I've posted. Through the chaos of moving, new classes, and adjusting to all the new things that begin in the fall, I've been kept pretty busy. This semester I'm really working on easing my way back into school. For those who don't know, I took off spring semester due to chronic daily headaches, so I've been on quite the journey so far in my short 20 years of life, and can't wait to see what the rest holds. However, my point is I took spring semester off to get better, so I could actually do the work required of a nursing student. So where I was in my program left me kind of stuck taking electives this semester. I have nutrition (required for my program), Spanish, Hip Hop Aerobics, Pilates, and Holistic Nursing: Therapeutic Touch.

I've come to realize this semester is really giving me an opportunity to take care of myself. Specifically, through my therapeutic touch class. The overall theme of the class is we need to be able to take care of ourselves in order to help others to heal themselves in their illness. As a part of this class we had to complete a self assessment and choose a mindfulness practice to work on throughout the semester. I chose letting go. I've always held onto things. My past has formed who I am, and I hold my memories very dear to my heart. I often re-live moments of my life over and over and over - sometimes cherishing the good memories, sometimes relishing in the pain of the old ones. And sometimes I dwell in something I wish I could go back and change. This summer I had to tell once of my friends they needed to be gone from my life because they were causing me to emotionally be hurt repeatedly and I was allowing unnecessary distress in my life because of this relationship. Now, I keep wanting to go back to this, to not do it or to do it differently or to contact this person asking if we can be friends again, but really what I need to do is let it be. let it go. So I haven't learned much yet, other than this practice is a moment to moment practice. Often times I have to take it one moment at a time, take a deep breath, calm myself down, and remind myself that it was the right decision.

The art of letting go - that's exactly what it is - an art. It takes practice, each day, reminding yourself that it's okay - the past is the past, learn from it, but leave it in the past. As I continue on this journey of letting go, I will fill you in on what I learn, but for now this is all I've got.

Peace, love, and blessings of God to you!

So Just Let Go

Tonight I'm working a night shift at the hospital... So about 8 o'clock pm I went to the coffee shop and ordered a large latte for myself. On my slower days in life I often find myself wondering about a variety of things - and often times dwelling in the challenges of life. As I was driving home, I had the Christian radio station on and this line from a song stood out to me

so just let go 
'cause you're held in His arms. 

It comes from a song by Natalie Grant called Hurricane - check it out here.

I heard those words and a great weight was lifted from my chest.

There was a boy who hurt me, who wounded my heart -  and Jesus still has to heal it, and that's okay, I need to let go of that hurt - Jesus is gonna catch me.

Chronic daily headaches do exist, I do have them and live with them. I am going to have dizzy spells, and constantly be afraid that something is going to trigger them. I am excited and terrified to start school again in a few weeks because of it- but I can't let my fear hold me back - I need to let go and know Jesus is gonna catch me. Illness and suffering are a part of this life.

There are friendships that will be hard, and there are hard conversations we'll need to have with people in our lives. It's okay - let go of your own desires, your own expectations. Jesus is gonna catch you.

I fear for my mom, for her health. I want her to be there on my wedding day. I want my kids to remember her, and I want her to be there for me when I have my kids. But I fear she won't be here when that time comes. Just let go - I'm held in Jesus' arms.

Relationships are scary. And sometimes we are lonely, and we're afraid that no one is going to love us. And we feel like we're completely worthless, and completely alone. And it feels like we're not going to make it to tomorrow. Just let go - cause you're held in his arms.

I'm not saying this means we just need to sit and do nothing with our lives - but need to not hold onto past hurts, and to not allow fear to hold us back from doing something great, and to not let the risk keep us from total surrender to Christ - that's when we need to let go and remember he's holding us in his arms.

 I saw a thing on pinterest once that said something along the lines of "I have a 100% success rate of making it through bad days." This brought me a glimpse of encouragement - remembering this, and remembering we have a God who loves us unconditionally and we are safe in his arms - we can endure all things and all trials - we can be women, we can be for God - trusting that we are held safe in his arms.

So just let go 'cause you are safe in his arms.

Where I Saw Jesus

Each week I'm going to keep track of where I saw Jesus during my days and then share where he reveals himself to me because I know that my struggle lately has been to see God in the day to day mundane tasks of life. 

Monday: Jesus loved me through my patients. He told me I had beautiful hair and beautiful eyes. He used me to love a little child in need of a friendly face, and another he loved through me by her playing with my hair. 

Tuesday: Jesus let me see the brokenness of a man - and I was the first staff person to get him to talk since his accident - Jesus used me well.

Wednesday: Jesus loved my patients through me in the patience I used with them. This day I had elderly men in need of a little extra work. 

Thursday: Jesus gave me a day to rest and loved my sister through me and me through her. 

Friday: Jesus allowed me to see the pain of watching a loved one struggle. My patient was an old man and his wife was suffering so much by watching him suffer - he showed me a challenge of marriage, of love. He allowed me to be an instrument of his love in my calmness and attentiveness to my patient and his needs. 

Saturday - Jesus gave me some tiredness to offer up for my patient. 

He allowed me to see him love his daughter when the father of my patient came for a visit. He kissed her awake, stroked her hair, helped her walk, helped her change, and loved her unconditionally. I don't think I had ever seen Jesus so clearly before. 

My next patient was an elderly woman - Jesus gave me a kind smile and a friendly hand to help the woman out.

Last Jesus gave me an elder man and his wife. Before his wife left for the day I go to pray with them, and throughout my one I was able to be a listening ear a kind smile, a caring heart. My favorite part here was tucking my patient into bed and the smile he gave me - I knew I was being Jesus to him in that moment! 

Sunday - this day Jesus came to me in the Eucharist. He loved me so well, satisfied the hunger and thirst my heart had. He gave me an opportunity to be Jesus for my mom by giving her a break from the dogs and starting dinner for her. 

Each day he gives me an opportunity to pray for my patient and to love in a new way. Now - to see it daily