Always a Good Word

Hope is always a good word.  And I loved how Claudia Mair Burney expressed it here.

Stuff Worth Reading

I liked these:

Claudia Mair Burney's piece on "Listening to Your Illnesses" struck a deep chord as I remembered the long years of depression, and as I pondered the various situations I find myself in now.

This piece on "Letting Go of the Old to Embrace the New" stuck a chord for kind of the same reasons.  Especially in a week when I've been thinking about changes that are coming to our family.  And remembering how lovely my living situation was only a few months ago, versus how challenging it is at the moment.

And I just liked this piece on the numbering of our days and the value of a mentor at Pete Wilson's blog.  Probably partly because one of my dearest friends is quite a bit older than I am, and offers an incredibly valuable perspective to me as I walk out life.

On My Radar Today

Donald Miller wrote this great piece on "Asking People to Leave Church"

I loved this piece on new life at Ragamuffin Diva

And, as a dear friend of mine is currently in Malta, and was attending the Papal Mass, I've been following headlines about the pope's weekend visit to Malta.

Pope Cries in Malta Victim Meeting

Pope Reaches Five Year Mark with Church Mired in Scandal

Pope Cries with Church Abuse Victims in Malta

Pope and Church Satisfied with Papal Visit

Abuse Victims Say Meeting with Pope Gave Them Peace

Malta Set to Greet Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict's Historic Malta Visit Ends

A few links

A few blog posts worth reading today:

Anne Jackson's latest post, as she prepares to join a team headed for Haiti later this week.

I also loved the latest story at Claudia Mair Burney's blog.

Point of Tears

I'm tired today.

I've had less of the truly sleepless nights lately, and I sometimes forget what that does to my emotional coping abilities.

And in some ways I'm grieving. Relationships that have changed or ended, but other things too. Seems for the last few months, at least once a week or so, I've gotten terribly bad news from various people I care about. Terminal illnesses and death and other very sad situations.

And today some of those weigh heavy, and I am praying, and near the point of tears.

This post at The Ragamuffin Diva encouraged me this morning. "Rest. Get up. Rest Again. Get up again." That seems manageable today. Sort of at least.

Quick Link

It would seem that my freezing cold Monday morning (It's -33 C right now when you factor in the windchill) is going to be a busy one. At least that's what I'm guessing based on the traffic in my office this morning.

Since my thoughts are scattered all over the place anyway, I thought I'd send you to Claudia Mair Burney's site. Her novels are some of the ones I miss most, and will be among the first ones I read when it seems that it is again a wise thing for me to lose myself in a novel. In the meantime, she has been writing daily (or nearly daily - I'm not sure at the moment) reflections on Advent that are beautiful. Go check them out.

I Loved This...

For a wide variety of reasons, it's been almost a year since I've read a novel. Partly because I needed to fast from the escapist tendencies I was using fiction for, and partly for a number of other reasons. But, if/when Claudia Mair Burney releases a new novel, I'll likely break that fast and read it. (Her book, Wounded, was the last novel I read, late last fall, and I loved it, and was profoundly touched by it, like every other one of her novels that I've read.)

In any case, I follow her blog, Ragamuffin Diva, and I loved the most recent post there, The Canticle of the Lamb. It spoke to some of the raw and wounded bits of my heart this morning, and brought just that touch of hope that was badly needed.