Thoughts for Thursday

What am I cooking? Spaghetti and Meatballs.

What am I reading? Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila.  I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never read it.  So far, excellent.

What are my weekend plans? I plan to watch a lot of football, and maybe hold a mini-family party in honor of Gus’ third birthday.  I included his photo in honor of the event.  Does he look like a young version of Will Ferrell?

What are my prayer intentions today? For several friends battling cancer or other very serious illnesses.  Have Mercy on them Lord.

What can my children do instead of watching TV? Build a puzzle.  We replenished our puzzle supply this Christmas.  I discarded all the old puzzles with missing pieces, organized the storage bin holding the remaining puzzles, and, like magic, my children want to do puzzles again.  We now have less puzzles, but every one has all the pieces, and when it comes to kids and toys, I am always relearning that less is more.

What is one product that is making my life a little easier? Pamela’s pancake and baking mix.  Yes it’s gluten free.  Yes I can order it in bulk with free shipping from Amazon subscribe and save.  Yes, it beats the heck out of mixing my own GF flours.  And yes, I love pancakes.

What have I done for my marriage this week? Prayer.  I like to feel in control and so I VERY regularly forget the need for prayer and grace in my relationships with others.  I need grace in every part of my life, and my marriage is no exception.  During Advent I began to pray daily for my marriage.  Not only has God answered my prayers, and blessed my marriage, but He reminded me just how much we all need His grace.

What’s challenging me lately? Small worries and distractions.  As an athlete, I realize that it’s important to set goals and remind yourself regularly of those goals.  As a Christian, my goal is heaven.  And yet I forget, I falter, and I am regularly distracted by things that have nothing to do with my goal.  I admit that days pass and I don’t even think once about the ultimate goal.  And even on the good days, the days where I wake up focused and refreshed, an argument with a clueless customer service representative, twenty minutes on hold with the doctors office while a  two year old whines and grabs my legs, a little too much time watching TV, a crying baby, a burned meal, or my husband returning late from work result in a complete loss of focus.  It then takes me entirely too long to recover and refocus on my goal–heaven.

When I was a competitive athlete, I  put  motivational sayings around my room, inside my desk drawer, on my computer, and in my locker to remind myself why I was working so hard.  As a Christian, the sacraments, the saints, and the Church provide these reminders and motivation.  Since I am often home bound and very distracted during Mass, I often find myself lacking in spiritual motivation.  While a retreat can kick start a lazy spiritual life (it’s similar to an intense pre-season camp, right?), it isn’t enough.  I need something easily accessible and regular.  I have shelves in our home office dedicated to spiritual reading.  Some of it I’ve read, some of it I haven’t (see Interior Castle above).  But many nights, I have time in the evening to read and learn about my faith, to get motivated, to find those inspiring quotes and to quickly refocus after I wait on hold to talk to yet another Verizon customer service representative who will not know how to fix our internet problem.

Something that made me think? My new Google reader.  Yes I said it, it’s NEW.  Life has been hectic around my house for quite some time and I just got around to setting up a Google reader.  Mr. Red encouraged me to subscribe to Saint of the Day, and I just love getting these daily little summaries each day.  In the past few days I have realized how little I know about some very important saints.  I’m hoping to remedy that in the coming months.  I highly recommend it.