Little Happies [1]

One of the best parts of camp every day? Highs and lows. It gives us a chance to reflect on the blessings God has given us throughout our days. I don't usually have this habit outside of that camp world. So when I saw this link up, I wanted to join in. I'm excited to be along for the ride this week! Check out Blessed To Be for more happies.

--one--

Is it weird to talk about your own birthday on your blog? Well, I'm going to do it! It's my birthday, and that is fun. Carol and I took a little time to chat and catch up this morning. Then my family sent me these:

--two--

I am grateful for my vacation with my mom and my sister. I will write more on this later, but right now, just look at that water! So beautiful, so grateful.

--three--

Last night was the first night I was able to get together with my discipleship girls in a while. They are just so fun and always brighten my day. They put up with my craziness and desire for adventure (we ordered a pizza, just because) and are getting more and more willing to share. 

--four--

Giving up TV for lent has created so much time for reading and it is so great. I read 4 books on vacation last week. Right now, I am half way through the second book of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I remember reading the first book in the 8th grade and loving it, so I decided that I wanted to read to whole trilogy. I love the imagery in these books - the characters often enter into other worlds called realms, so it is fun to get lost in the world of magic and the magic that comes from the 1890's in London.

--five--

When I got home from Mexico, I had a package. Inside were two beautiful scarves for my project to help get scarves for Dana's bible study. This leaves me with 4 in hand, and two on their way! I'm going to deliver the scarves this weekend. I love that others have jumped on board for this little last minute project. Maybe next year it can be something bigger. 

When and How?

Guys, my prayer life sucks. And the worst part is, I don't really care. I mean, I care, but I haven't really prayed in a week and I can't find the motivation to start again. Everything is harddddd. Ugh.

Last night my discipleship group was discussing the story of Noah. Two things really struck me:

1. Noah is all about action
2. Noah's faith was pretty insane

God told Noah to do something and he did it. Even though it was out-of-control crazy. Like build-a-1.5-football-field-long-boat-in-the-middle-of-the-desert kind of crazy. What faith! Mark Hart asks the video-kids if they would do something like this if God asked them to. When they say yes, he challenges them, "would you really do it? Isn't God talking to you now?" My girls started talking about this and all I could wonder was what God is asking me to do that I'm just not taking action on.

We kept talking about this and after getting really distracted by this strange children's church song, we talked about how none of us are where we want to be in our relationship with God right now because we are being lazy. Regina then hit us with this smack-in-the-face challenge from her uncle about prayer:

"The question you need to ask yourself is, 'when and how can I pray' instead of listing the excuses for why you can't pray."

Yep. I have a half hour of prayer built into my schedule every day at work. Why am I not praying? The holy sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated (almost) every day at the office. Why am I not going to Mass?

To continue my laundry list of excuses, I'm getting sucked into the busyness of Conference season. I think, "well, God called me to the Events Team, which means He called me to a busy state of life right now...I have to answer these 27 emails. I can't go to Mass/pray!" I'm lacking accountability. Nothing happens if I don't go to Mass or prayer (except me continuing to separate myself from Jesus). 

My girls are lacking accountability as well. So we made a goal and we're texting each other each day to remind each other to pray. Some of them are making gratitude lists, some are praying the rosary, some are praying for 5 extra minutes in the morning. I'm going to go to my scheduled Mass and prayer time and just to sit, for ten minutes, with Jesus. That my when and how. No more excuses. It's time to put Jesus back at the center of my life.

Thanks, Dana, for your inspiration.