Thursday, April 21, 2011

My daily cross


Many years ago, my wife gave me this cross as a birthday gift.

Every night, before I turned in, I took off my cross and placed it on my bureau.  Every morning, I put it back on.  It was my routine and I did not think about it at all.  When I broke my shoulder earlier this year, I could not do that simple action, so I made a choice.  I left it on for 5 weeks.

Now that the shoulder is healed, I had to make another choice.  I went back to my old ways.  There is great symbolism in my old ways.

Each night, I take off my cross and turn my cross over to God.  As my mother used to say, "He'll be up all night watching anyway."

Each morning, I pick up my cross again and move forward with my day.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Staring at the ceiling

"Lord, help me trust you more"
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner"

These are my 'mantras' when I find myself unable to sleep and staring at the ceiling at 3:00 A.M. It is not every night, but once in a while.   Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Gentle reader, any advice for falling back asleep?

Monday, April 4, 2011

Secular considerations

Well a lot of my spare time now is considering the secular aspects of my transition.

I've made a time line at work to exit there and give myself a month before I start at the seminary.  That should give me time to do some packing, some vacation and some family visits.

I've started the process of looking for a condominium where my Dad and I can live.  We're talking about bringing in my sister and her husband as well.  Nothing is decided yet, but there are some possibilities.

Meanwhile, I wander through the house and mentally tag items: seminary (very few), condo, and St. Vincent de Paul.  In those travels, I still see too much stuff.  There is so much in this house that I never use.  " 'tis a gift to be simple..."