Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 224

Today's Daily 5:

1. A long sleep
2. Fabulous cinnamon bun from a local bakery
3. sunshine
4. letting worship from Bethel church play in the background as I sat
5. Flipping the calendar page to a fresh new month
6. a ride home from mom and dad's
7. sewing tiny baby booties as a gift
8. old episodes of The West Wing on DVD
9. fresh fruit
10. an afternoon full of cleaning and quiet, tackling lots of little tasks that had gone undone for a while

Left on Today's List

Since arriving home mid-afternoon, I've accomplished things like washing dishes, a couple loads of laundry, some emails and other random tasks.

The list of things still left for today includes:

• various and sundry school tasks
• prepping some food for the week ahead
• stitching a tiny pair of baby booties
• sending a couple emails
• doing a wee bit of filing
• taking some time to rest

Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 223

Today's Daily 5:

1. An impromptu skype date with L. late last night into early this morning
2. laughing over Marmageddon (only in New Zealand)
3. waking to birds singing outside the window
4. cake in a mug
5. the feeling of sinking into bed at the end of the day

Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 222

Today's Daily 5:

1. A relatively calm school afternoon (even if it was followed by a rather large storm of sorts)
2. coming home to curl up in sweat pants
3. friends to vent to
4. painted finger nails
5. mango bubble tea (with no pearls)

Friday Reflections, March 30, 2012

Today's reflection struck me deeply earlier in the week.  It was written by Richard Rohr, and deals with suffering.


SUFFERING


When I was young, I wanted to suffer for God. I pictured myself being the great and glorious martyr somewhere. There's something so romantic about laying down your life for something great. I guess many young people might see themselves that way, but now I know it was mostly ego, but sort of good ego at that stage.


There is nothing glorious about any actual moment of suffering—when you're in the midst of it. You swear it's meaningless. You swear it has nothing to do with goodness or holiness or God—or you.


The very essence of any experience of trial is that you want to get out of it. A lack of purpose, of meaning—is the precise suffering of suffering! When you find a pattern in your suffering, a direction, you can accept it and go with it. The great suffering, the suffering of Jesus, is when that pattern is not immediately given. The soul can live without success, but it cannot live without meaning.


Adapted from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p. 86, day 94