Tag: Christian
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Answered Prayers.
A Mother’s Day Reflection My son looks at a photo of three smiling faces and asks, “where was I?” The image is incomplete, he feels lost, when he was our missing piece. “You were still a dream,” I tell him. He smiles in reply, satisfied. This dream is real, it has fingers and limbs, a…
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I have.
I have been through the wildernessAnd waitedI have heard the small, still voiceI have had its peaceFill meI have been pulled from the miry clay I have been in the fireAnd I was not aloneI did not burnI was not consumed I have been temptedI have failedAnd I have been redeemed Set free by graceSet…
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Water & Chocolate
A reflection for Holy Week Last year, I left Saturday Vigil, Easter Mass, with a bottle of Holy Water in my pocket. My friends’ darling children gathered it up for me, passing it eagerly, their tender faces alive with Easter joy. I placed it in my pocket for safekeeping. Feeling far better for having it…
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Can it not be redeemed? Some thoughts on grief & shame.
It is funny, isn’t it, how events, dates or seasons in the calendar can be marked with a certain mood for us. How they become marred by the shadow of a specific experience. Birthdays for me have become a little bit this way. At first I thought, no birthdays with kids just hit different. And…
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What do you name your coffee machine? On Control, Surrender & Obedience.
I have been thinking a great deal about Hagar of late. The context for this is a little strange, I’ll admit, but bear with me (yes, I say that a lot). We are grateful to have wonderful cafes in our area. Including workers who take time to learn our name (more than some co-workers do!)…
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Oh Sweet January – on goals and expectations.
Have you ever wondered how our good, thoughtful goals turn themselves into burdensome expectations? How our plans, instead of being attainable and joyous, have become a weight to bear? As I have been reflecting on the burden of expectations, I keep hearing the line “not all experiences are good, Bianca!”¹ Except, let’s swap out ‘experiences’…
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thank you.
There is no Thank youFor a job well doneNo hand reaching downTo pull us out of the graveHappiest still -If we stayed buriedFor all our mistakes. What made us thinkWe’d get accolades For doing good on this side of forever? Back bent and wearyIt is not for reward We tirelessly whisperShuffling forward, forging the pathreaching…
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CHOOSE.
You do the right thing. You follow the rules. You do all that is asked of you. You do more. You look ahead. You dream of all that could be. You hope. You plan. You smile at the encouragement, the open hands. You soon learn the promises were empty. You take a step back. The…
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steadfast.
SteadfastOr crumbling to defeatThe differencebetweenStaying the course and relentingPowerlessto fear of change.Do we stay the course when the road inclinesgrows roughbeneath our feetOr turn backlooking for a lighter courseone that does not ask for resilience Or Challenge us,demand that we grow.Steadfast – Not an enticing wordStaying the courseNot oft observedBut we dare to wander the…
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A bit on Labels & a lot on Grace
On our journey of self-awareness and introspection, we’ll discover many labels. Some we’ll affix ourselves. Others will be given to us. With each we need to tread carefully. Our language of labels can be incredibly unhelpful. A sign of maturity is our ability to question these labels, before firmly fixing them in place, if we…
letters and lattes 