"Kadinchey"

Life teaching at Carroll High School has been stressful. With a new subject, jaded kids, and challenging classroom management, it hasn't been an easy stroll in the park from the beginning. There have been times where I've felt like I hit a wall and dreaded seeing certain classes come into my room. I didn't really know this type of stress, one that almost paralyzed me...and that was such a strange, foreign feeling since I felt so confident teaching fifth and third grade.

As time has gone on, and now that we've moved into the period of Lent, it has been a real time of self-reflection. I've been going to the chapel for Our Lady of Guadalupe every day before school in the National Shrine just for a few minutes to pray...and that moment of calm, those precious few drops of absolute silence in reflection has been nothing but monumental to start my day. And what have I really focused on in those few moments in the morning?

It's been the ability to be thankful. Yes, my job is hard. Yes, the commute is sometimes an hour and is extricating. But there is SO MUCH to be thankful for in my life. From seeing the sun in the morning on the way to school...knowing that I am making at least some sort of difference, even when it is hard to see it...having a job to begin with...living in a home and being comfortable and knowing I have three square meals a day...being in a wonderful relationship...there is so much to be thankful for in life and more. I found a video on youtube that sort of models this in a song form. A dj called DJ Pogo took sounds from a trip to Bhutan and transformed it into a song called Kadinchey, which in Bhutanese means "Thank You." There is so much in life to be thankful for...the songs, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, everything around us. During this Lenten season, take some time and just be thankful for what you have and what is around you...especially the small, seemingly insignificant things we don't typically notice. God blesses us in so many ways...all we have to do is open our eyes and see the good that He gives us!

Beauty

Thanks to Tish Wilsey for sending me this photo with the caption

"I took this today and I just wanted you to have it.  What started out as a 2 hour fog delay turned into finding something beautiful within it....."

It's always inspiring when you see a friend finding God in the details. Thanks Tish :)

Don't keep waiting for a miracle..

...they are happening in front of your eyes everyday.

 a selection from Martin Luther’s “Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 1-5:

"Miracles become commonplace through their continuous recurrence. Thus we do not marvel at the wonderful light of the sun, because it is a daily phenomenon. We do not marvel at the countless other gifts of creation, for we have become deaf toward what Pythagoras aptly terms this wonderful and most lovely music coming from the harmony of the motions that are in the celestial spheres. But because men (sic) continually hear this music, they become deaf to it, just as the people who live at the cataracts of the Nile are not affected by the noise and roar of the water which they hear continually, although it is unbearable to others who are not accustomed to it…“Everything that is rare is appreciated, but what is an everyday occurrence comes to be regarded as commonplace.” If the stars did not rise during every single night or in all places, how great a gathering of people there would be for this spectacle! Now not one of us even opens a window because of it."

...Now that Lent has begun, even after 2 days I have noticed (yet again) how much I seem to miss the things I am "giving up." I find myself thinking about these changes in my routine at various points in my day, evidencing how attached we really do become to things in our lives. But as I continue forward into these desert days of Lent, I know that what is found in the place of these things that I "miss" right now is room for deep prayer and meditation on/recognition of all the little miracles that I witness each day, yet rarely even recognize. God truly is in the details and too often we are too busy or too wrapped up in routine to notice the intricate pattern of a leaf on a tree we walk by each day...or the color of the sky when we walk or drive the same route everyday, or the texture of the vegetables we chop for dinner and the knowledge of all of the amazing nutrients that are locked inside, or simple our own heartbeat...brain...nervous system...working in tandom without our instruction to keep us alive and alert. Life is AMAZING! There are so many miracles to marvel at. See if you can find "a miracle a day" as you journey through this Lenten season....

God's dream for the world

"Visions and dreams...do we trust them? Many people who heard Peter's speech at Pentecost thought that the visions and dreams he spoke of were the result of too much wine. When we allow the Spirit to move in us, we become dreamers too. God's dreams for the world live in us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The "portion of the Spirit" that falls on us is needed by the rest of the world. When we trust our visions and dreams and join them with the visions and dreams of others, God's dream for the world becomes a reality." 

What do we believe God's dream for the world to be? 
How do I participate in making that dream a reality?