“This week has been so full of God moments, it’s hard to pick just one” I say to my friends as we sit in a quiet coffee shop, catching up and sharing about our weeks. I had been pondering how I’d answer this question all day today and especially in Adoration prior to our gathering. Would I share about the mercy and love I felt in the confessional? How about the breath-taking beauty of the 80,000-year comet my husband and I saw on Tuesday? What about the rejuvenating peace of the changing seasons that I savored on my walks this week? Or should I pick the leisurely lunch with a…
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It was about 3:30pm as I pulled onto a busy eight-lane highway, the first leg of my nearly four-hour journey home. I had been traveling for work and after grabbing Chick-fil-a on the way out of town (a must-do for this small-town girl living in a lonely world devoid of waffle fries within a 100-mile radius) I hit the old familiar road ready to binge my favorite podcasts and maybe chat with a friend while I zoomed home as fast as possible. With the fuel gage on full and an early dinner sitting in the passenger seat, I was hopeful that I could make it home without any stops at…
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I stand in the kitchen, cheeks hot with shame, eyes barely holding back tears, and I stir. I stir the dinner that simmers on the stove—just like I stirred the pot with my husband as I simmered in the laundry room just a few moments earlier. I vigorously mix the food and little bits of sauce splash out of the pan—just like I carelessly mixed all my frustrations of the day, allowing them to spill over into the busy night we had planned. It’s a Wednesday evening and it’s been one of those days. You know, the kind of day where every little thing seems to go sideways? The…
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“Just pray about it” my mother said with a sigh. I can’t recall exactly what we were talking about as I rested on her bed, my forearm draped over my eyes which were probably wet from crying. I was somewhere between the ages of 14 and 17, in those most precarious teenage years, and I certainly did not appreciate my mom’s tendency to turn everything toward prayer. In fact, I’m sure I let her know just exactly how much I didn’t like her prayer advice a time or two. And I’m sure I was probably not kind in sharing my opinion. Oh, the ways we think we know everything as…
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On a sunny Wednesday afternoon earlier this year, I was in my office chipping away at a list of to-dos when a message popped up on my phone. It was from a sweet woman at my parish. She was asking if I’d be willing to join a ministry that needed additional help. “Pray about it and let me know. We’d love to have you join us!” she wrote. I put my phone down and sighed. I paused for a moment and noticed a tightness in my chest as my brain started to move just a little bit faster. I want to say yes but can I really add another thing…
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This blogpost was originally written for Women at Well and was published on their blog in April of 2022. I’ve been putting this blogpost off all week. Not that I normally get my blogposts done too far ahead of the deadline…but this blogpost feels especially procrastinated… and especially taxing. Here I sit, on Sunday evening, in the stillness of my office. The dim light of the lamp on my bookcase illuminates the room, and my dog is softly snoring on her bed behind me. I’ve been staring at my laptop for the better part of 45 minutes. Type, type, type. Hold the backspace key. Type again. Backspace again. Words have…
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As I sat in the Adoration chapel, a welcomed reprieve from this crazy world, I noticed something glisten out of the corner of my teary eyes. Turning my gaze ever so slightly, I realized it must have been light reflecting off the large crucifix that sits on a table next to the monstrance. I hadn’t ever noticed this crucifix before, at least not in a way that made it memorable. I wondered if it was new or if I was just unobservant. I wondered how this beautiful gold and silver crucifix had never captured my attention before. And after the third or fourth time of losing my place in the…
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I sat quietly in my living room, embers glowing softly in the fireplace, as I felt a familiar pain begin to flicker in my heart. The kind of pain that wells up from somewhere deep inside and burns in places I didn’t realize had nerves – a throbbing heartache. My husband had gone to work, my workday was done, and an open evening lay ahead. There, in the dim light of the lamps and the fireplace, snuggled up in my favorite spot, I felt utterly lonely – a familiar feeling, a recurring experience in my life. “Why do I feel so lonely” I wondered. I’ve known the burning heartache of…
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“Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” – St. Padre Pio Raise your hand if you’ve felt hopeless at some point in your life. I can’t see you as you’re reading this blogpost (thank goodness, right?!) but I’m going to dare to guess you probably raised your hand. Hopelessness is something that can feel painfully lonely but is not unique to any of us. Even lives full of great joy can be riddled by hopelessness. For some, hopelessness and despair are frequent and expected visitors. For others, hopelessness drops by unexpectedly like the occasional October blizzard. No matter on which end of the spectrum you find yourself, I want you to know…
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Have you ever felt distant from a dear friend? Maybe you used to text each other every day but now it’s been weeks since you’ve heard from them. Or perhaps you used to have long, easy conversations with them over a glass of wine but now you simply exchange a quick “hello” and “how have you been” and “we need to get coffee sometime” when you happen to run into each other at the grocery store. Maybe your friendship has morphed into a pleasant but totally operational one – you know you can rely on each other and only reach out when you need something from each other. And you…
