BRRRRR.....Now THAT'S Cold

"Overheard" online this morning:

It's so cold outside that...

...the cows are giving ice cream instead of milk

...the politicians in DC have their hands in their own pockets for a change

...my get up and go got up and went south for the winter

...our snowman knocked on the door and asked to come in

The First Cut is the Deepest

In my last post I spoke about spiritual pride and how easily I got caught in this trap during my early walk with the Lord. I wasn't kidding about being devastated when He revealed to me that I was about as far from a saint as one could be. When the Lord first starts performing surgery in this area, the first cut is the deepest. By deepest, I mean most painful. Why? Because it's performed without anesthesia. Or with very little anesthesia.

Humility is God's anesthesia and when one has very little of this virtue, the divine surgery hurts tremendously. I was depressed and it bordered on despair. Here I was thinking I was giving my all to the Lord and He was dissatisfied (or maybe He wasn't but it sure felt this way).

I mean, what a waste! Here I was determined to pray an Our Father or a Hail Mary for every single person on this earth (and well on my way to doing so) when the Lord stopped me dead in my tracks! My Pieta book with the series of prayers to be said daily for months on end, plucked from my hands! My Rosaries, my novenas? Poof! Gone in a flash!

"I prayed that whole darn book over and over for nothing, Lord?"  (Well, I never actually made it through the whole year of St. Bridget's prayers though I sure as heck tried more than once.)

"And what about the six billion Hail Mary's I was well on my way to doing?! Dust?"

This was the first time I was booted off my throne and I wasn't liking it one bit.

"I suppose the Perpetual (man, that thing took forever)  Novena for the poor souls is off too?"

Prayer had become a "fig leaf", not a conversation with God.

In truth, the Lord was doing me a great kindness by teaching me you can't buy your way into heaven. Not only that, He was showing me "my" Rosaries, "my" Novenas, "my" way bore little resemblance to His way. His way was grace and I had a lot to learn in this area. I had to learn to pray with the heart and that the power in prayer stems from the Person, God,  behind the prayer,  not from the prayer itself. Added to that, I never shut up. Silence is an integral part of prayer; it's rude to do all the talking.  Listening matters.

Prayer is good. Novenas are wonderful. But following the leading of the Holy Spirit is the best. I DO still pray the Rosary and Novenas...but not for the same reasons.

"So Lord, how about the three day warning before my death? Is that one still a go?"  Lol. (Those who have read the older Pieta books will know what I mean ;)

Would You Care for a Slice of Humble Pie?

My computer illiteracy isn't limited to just using a computer...it extends to pretty much everything concerning computers in general. My brother is a computer programmer and I have to admit that when he tries to explain how certain programs work my brain processes it as Martian and quickly shuts down to avoid further attempts at alien intrusion.

On occasion, I have noticed that my site stats jump suddenly and inexplicably. Being a somewhat logical person my reactions following these sudden jumps were always, "Wow! Who would have thunk it?! Someone is actually reading ALL my posts." Two plus two equals four, right? "Hmmm....maybe my posts are more interesting than I thought."

Until I read THIS.

Not wanting to be a hog and eat all the pie alone I am kindly sharing it with my fellow bloggers. Enjoy ;)

Some people are just too honest, wouldn't you say?

I didn't ask if it was PC or Mac

 I wouldn't have asked either! For a good laugh, check out today's post by Philangelus at
 Seven angels, four kids, one family!

Sabbath Moments - Quirks

Sabbath Moments is a weekly meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace. These are the moments when we find the sacred in the ordinary and "let go and let God".

Life is often humorous and I thank God for those "moments of laughter" he inserts into our lives. The other day my daughter was taking a bath and I heard the bathroom door open and then close. Wondering what she was up to, I opened the bathroom door to find her mopping the floor, which is unusual enough, and stark naked, at that. I asked her why she was mopping and she told me that she had gotten water all over the floor and decided to save me the work of having to clean it up. I thanked her sweetly, closed the door, and tried to stifle my giggles at the funny sight she made. I was both amused and touched by her thoughtfulness (getting her to clean ANYTHING is usually a struggle).

I meditated on grace a lot this week. Grace is a funny thing. It never quite works as we would expect it to. I wrote a bit about this in my last post. I'm often puzzled by the different avenues of approach God uses to help people grow and it often doesn't make sense to me until after he's finished. I'm coming to realize that God is very accepting of our human nature, including our individual "quirks" and peccadilloes. He is not seeking to so much change what makes us unique and different as He is trying to show us how these things can be used for the good if we trust Him. God doesn't often change someone who's shy into an extrovert but rather, uses our existing traits. As in "grace building upon nature".  I once read an article online that equated shyness with selfishness and this horrified me a bit. Did he do some kind of formal study on this? No, it was a personal opinion. Selfishness (do any of us completely escape this?) seems to be a common denominator among fallen human beings so my guess is that this fellow must be:

An angel in disguise, maybe?

 Or perhaps he was pre-redeemed or something.

Lucky guy.

Ants in her pants

 If nothing else, my little girl is honest. After sitting through Mass and paying attention the entire time she told Sister E. during bible study,  "I'm just a kid. I have too much energy in me and I cannot sit down any longer. I just can't do it, Sister."

Well...that was certainly to the point.

Sister E, don't say I didn't give you fair warning :)

The Event of the Year

I, Queen Ree, had the honor of attending "THE EVENT" of the year. Along with Tinkerbell, my fairy friend, we attended the Pixie Hollow Grand Ball. I must say: It was a smashing success. Tink was dressed in the latest haute couture evening wear created by Hello Kitty and Co. All the fairies and sparrowmen were dressed in their finest. I wore a sparkling tiara and glittering fairy jewels with my pressed flower fairy gown created by Sue Fine, a sewing talent fairy. After much dancing, dining, and laughter, Tink and I departed in our flower coach pulled by eight chipmunks. A truly great party attended by the elite of fairyland!

Can you tell it was a snow day and there was no school? :)