So I am in the midst of a busy time, and therefore my beloved blog takes a backseat. In fact I won't be posting for the next three weeks, so this all you're getting till the end of July. Enjoy!
---1---
I love me some Jackie and Bobby! Who the heck are Jackie and Bobby, you ask. Jackie is a Catholic speaker and singer-songwriter, and Bobby is her fiance, and I found them through the Lifeteen blog. They have a wedding blog, where they wrote about their love story, and chastity and relationships and waiting and pornography all that good stuff. There's just something about them that I love... maybe because they remind me of me, maybe because I hope to have a romance as sweet as theirs, maybe because they speak my language- faith + intelligence + humour, maybe because we're kind of in the same business. Whatever it is, I'm excited each time they update their blog (which is very rarely).
The Love Story
Jackie and Bobby (the blog)
How to Know You've Found Your True Love (NCR article)
---2---
Everyone seems to have read/heard of Ann Voskamp except me. I have however heard of Katie Davis, and even read the book she wrote- 'Kisses From Katie'. Anyway Ann visited Katie in Uganda, and wrote this beautiful post.
When You’re Done with Pundits, Soul Wrestling & Looking at the Sky: {25 Things I learned from staying with Katie Davis}
These words are ones I'm pondering, and will be for a long time:
Do you struggle with being critical about everything? It's not all bad, there IS a silver lining.
The Blessing and Curse of a Critical Mind (ssp*)
---4---
Oh my gosh, I need to go do things! And I have no more links. So last three random quick takes. (Yes, this counts as one.)
---5---
Something I'm thinking about: I believe that joy is supposed to be a normal part of the Christian life. Then why am I so often not joyful? I have a very blessed life, and no real reason to be down about anything- work that I love, people that I love, a home, a sufficiently comfortable life, dreams that I'm working toward... and yet I so often am tense and anxious. I think for me there are two main reasons: negativity (the downside of the aforementioned critical mind) and very connected, fear (how can I be happy when they are so many possibly scary things that could happen at any moment?). Something to bring to the Lord.
---6---
In the Ann Voskamp article I linked to above, she says "The answer to everything is relationship." I believe her. That's it. Love = Relationship, and only love matters. Yet, every now and again, I long for a relationship-free life, where I sit with my laptop, writing, editing newsletters, and reading blogs, and never leaving the house. The introvert rears her head. But I KNOW in the long run, no matter how much I long for that right now, a relationship-free life would not satisfy me, nor make me the person I believe I was called to be. Still, I'm grateful for the times when people ask me to serve BY sitting in front of a laptop creating newsletters.
---7---
The reason I'm not going to be online for the next few weeks is because I'm going on a trip to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (my second time). Super long train journey ahead- perfect opportunity to catch up on reading! See you on the other side!
Go to Jen's for quick takes from other bloggers.
*Shameless self-promotion
---1---
I love me some Jackie and Bobby! Who the heck are Jackie and Bobby, you ask. Jackie is a Catholic speaker and singer-songwriter, and Bobby is her fiance, and I found them through the Lifeteen blog. They have a wedding blog, where they wrote about their love story, and chastity and relationships and waiting and pornography all that good stuff. There's just something about them that I love... maybe because they remind me of me, maybe because I hope to have a romance as sweet as theirs, maybe because they speak my language- faith + intelligence + humour, maybe because we're kind of in the same business. Whatever it is, I'm excited each time they update their blog (which is very rarely).
The Love Story
Jackie and Bobby (the blog)
How to Know You've Found Your True Love (NCR article)
---2---
Everyone seems to have read/heard of Ann Voskamp except me. I have however heard of Katie Davis, and even read the book she wrote- 'Kisses From Katie'. Anyway Ann visited Katie in Uganda, and wrote this beautiful post.
When You’re Done with Pundits, Soul Wrestling & Looking at the Sky: {25 Things I learned from staying with Katie Davis}
These words are ones I'm pondering, and will be for a long time:
"Our actual theology is best expressed in our actual hospitality. And I don’t mean that hospitality is one quaint ministry for those good in the kitchen and keeping their house picked up. Hospitality isn't for the good housekeepers — it’s the grid of life for anyone keeping company with Christ. Hospitality is meant to shape our churches and politics, our work and our schools, our homes and our faith and our schedules and our meals and our lives...
The radical practice of hospitality begins with each child, each knock, each phone call: Every interruption of the day is a manifestation of Christ.
There are no interruptions in a day. There are only manifestations of Christ."---3---
Do you struggle with being critical about everything? It's not all bad, there IS a silver lining.
The Blessing and Curse of a Critical Mind (ssp*)
---4---
Oh my gosh, I need to go do things! And I have no more links. So last three random quick takes. (Yes, this counts as one.)
---5---
Something I'm thinking about: I believe that joy is supposed to be a normal part of the Christian life. Then why am I so often not joyful? I have a very blessed life, and no real reason to be down about anything- work that I love, people that I love, a home, a sufficiently comfortable life, dreams that I'm working toward... and yet I so often am tense and anxious. I think for me there are two main reasons: negativity (the downside of the aforementioned critical mind) and very connected, fear (how can I be happy when they are so many possibly scary things that could happen at any moment?). Something to bring to the Lord.
---6---
In the Ann Voskamp article I linked to above, she says "The answer to everything is relationship." I believe her. That's it. Love = Relationship, and only love matters. Yet, every now and again, I long for a relationship-free life, where I sit with my laptop, writing, editing newsletters, and reading blogs, and never leaving the house. The introvert rears her head. But I KNOW in the long run, no matter how much I long for that right now, a relationship-free life would not satisfy me, nor make me the person I believe I was called to be. Still, I'm grateful for the times when people ask me to serve BY sitting in front of a laptop creating newsletters.
---7---
The reason I'm not going to be online for the next few weeks is because I'm going on a trip to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (my second time). Super long train journey ahead- perfect opportunity to catch up on reading! See you on the other side!
Go to Jen's for quick takes from other bloggers.
*Shameless self-promotion
That is a beautiful quote--thanks for sharing it! Faith has to be expressed in action. I like how much the internet allows us to see people acting on their faith.
ReplyDeleteAs for joy, I think joy is a fruit of silence and stillness. I've been reading Thomas Merton's New Seeds of Contemplation lately, and taking some time for quiet prayer int he morning, and it's rocking my world.
Have a wonderful trip!
Very refreshing! Being joyful in the midst of a storm is a skill, that can be developed only with the help of the Lord. Been there & done that sort of feeling.
ReplyDelete