Living At Wit's End

My forty days/forty bags is going along VERY slow, but I am still determined to reach my goal by Easter Sunday! In the mean time I want to post something that I have wanted to post since January.   Four of my kids are involved in our church.   My two oldest however are very involved.   They are both peer ministers, and are actively involved in the youth ministry program.   In addition they serve the community in other ways such as cantoring, sing in the choir, alter serve, and as an Eucharistic minister.   In January our Youth Minister puts on a high school retreat, this is a mandatory retreat for the confirmation candidates, but is open to all high school students. Both of my kids volunteered to give witness talks this past January.   The theme of the retreat was Faith Book (a play on social media).   Oldest talk was on “discernment” and The Organized Child’s topic was “about me” (focusing on her life with our without God).   Oldest talk...

Sometimes I feel like God is on hiatus, taking a break, especially from all of my complaining and “HELP ME NOW” prayers.   Do you ever feel like that?   Do you wonder where He is and what He’s doing while you are barely hanging on, ready to drown, at any moment?   I do!   A lot lately!   I feel like Job and I are long lost relatives. Song lyrics describing how I feel have been spinning around in my head lately.   Like Steven Curtis Chapman’s Cinderella opening lyrics (emphasis mine), She spins and she sways To whatever song plays Without a care in the world And I'm sitting here wearing The weight of the world on my shoulders It's been a long day And there's still work to do She's pulling at me Saying "Dad, I need you There's a ball at the castle And I've been invited And I need to practice my dancing Oh, please, Daddy, please?" And, Jars of Clay Flood, Rain, rain on my face It hasn't stopped raining for days My world is a flood S...

(This post was meant to be much earlier in the year but life has been a bit more hectic than usual around the Living at Wit’s End abode.   I hope it will spark some ideas for you, for next year.) Our family has a lot of traditions throughout the year, but especially during the holidays.   Lately I’ve explained one of our traditions a lot.   Since so many people seem to be interested in the idea I thought I would share it with you as well.   My kids aren’t sad when the holidays are over, mainly because very soon after New Years we celebrate again.   On January 6 th , Epiphany, we have a great party to celebrate the three kings visit to see Jesus. On Epiphany we start the day by going to mass together.   In the evening we have a nice dinner (no real traditional meal), sometimes it is party finger food and other times it’s a little more formal, sit down, dinner.   That all depends on how busy we have been during the week and or how tired I a...

I found this wonderful prayer that I absolutely need to pray daily!  Maybe you need it to.  I started reading 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp awhile ago, this prayer reminds me that I truly need to get back to it, and back to my gratitude journal.   Gratitude for all of our blessings can change your attitude and perspective so much. Lord, thank you for this sink of dirty dishes; we have plenty of good food to eat. Thank you for this pile of dirty, stinky laundry; we have plenty of nice clothes to wear. And I would like to thank you, Lord, for those unmade beds; they were so warm and comfortable last night.   I know that many have no bed. My thanks to you, Lord, for this bathroom, complete with all the splattered mirrors, soggy, grimy towels and dirty lavatory; they are so convenient. Thank you for this finger-smudged refrigerator that needs cleaning.  It has served us faithfully for many years.   It is full of cold drinks and enough leftov...

Life has been very crazy at our house lately.  We have had some challenges pop up and getting back in the swing of things with school has kept me very busy.  To be honest, I've been pretty tired at the end of the day and this has led to writers block.  While searching for something to post this evening, I came across a prayer I had saved.  I'm not sure where I got it from and a quick search of the internet, lists it on several sites, but no where is it sited who wrote it or where it came from originally.  I felt that it was the perfect prayer for me right now.  I wanted to share it with you, it is not my intent, to not give credit to the author, I just haven't found who the author is.  I hope it speaks to you that way it spoke to me. Prayer of Mothers Father in heaven; grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me.   Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege— to share in ...

Growing up I was not in the “IN” crowd, nor was I popular.   The majority of my grade-school years were spent at a Catholic school.   I remember classmates as far back as first grade but a best friend or even good friends I had very few.   My first memory of a best friend was in fourth grade.   I had one for fourth, and fifth.   Then I had a couple of friends in sixth, and seventh but no best friend.   Actually I wasn’t really liked much at all, in sixth and seventh grade.   Thinking back on it, seventh was my hardest, I was what would be considered today, bullied.   Some of the girls put my school shoes in the toilet while I was at P. E.   I was made fun of, and a whole host of other things, I don’t care to remember, throughout all of seventh grade.   Eighth grade was a bit better, the two queen bees that led the girls the years before, had left the school and I bonded with someone.   We were like Laverne & Shirley  (we ev...

I have this reoccurring nightmare.   I’m at my current state in life (five kids, married etc.), but somewhere, some government bean counter, has determined that I didn’t meet my high school requirements.   Therefore, I have to go back to high school and complete one more year!   It doesn’t matter that I have this life; I have to go back in addition to living my current life.   It has all the typical, back in high school dream stuff, can’t find my locker, when I do, I can’t remember the combination, late to class, can’t find the class etc.   Where it becomes the nightmare is, it’s the last week of school and I have not done anything all year long!   I’m not prepared for the final exam and I have not completed the report, research paper, or whatever long term project that’s due!   So, I’m going to have to go back and do it over again! I had that dream again the other night.   I began to think about it and wonder why as an adult I’m having this drea...

{I apologize for the length of this post.   I had intended for posts on Sunday to be short and sweet and to the point about the Lord’s Day, keeping Holy the Sabbath, resting, relaxing, rejuvenating, meditating and prayer.   However, something happened yesterday that changed today’s post.} From Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Mr. Edward Magorium : [to Molly, about dying] When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies." That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words. [pause, walks over to Molly] ...