I've been thinking a lot about seasons. Season of life. I'm in a season where the scope of my life is small, almost exclusively focused on one human being. Well, two. Sorry Alex! We don't go out much, that was a season past. I don't sleep much. I don't shower much. I don't paint my nails. That's what this season looks like.
Seasons of weather. Here in Minnesota we are fortunate (?) enough to really experience all four season. Our summers are humid and 100 degrees and just the other day the high was -2. The HIGH!! Although I hate being cold winter is really a beautiful season. Snow is beautiful. Bare trees are beautiful. The days are short. There is more darkness and silence.
Seasons of the Church. I am truly glad that I live in the northern hemisphere so that advent and Christmas occur during winter. I just can't imagine having Christmas when it's warm outside. And I think it is so beautiful that we await the coming of the Savior in darkness. That all His glory and light break in when night is all around.
The women who I am friends with and mothers with have been talking about ways to prepare for His coming: reading more, examining one's conscience, unplugging and simplifying life, making silence, because silence fosters prayer which fosters growth. And it's been inspiring me to cut back, on social media, but mostly on TV. Anyone with an infant knows that you tend to do a lot of sitting around, and since Johnny's conversation right now is not the most stimulating my sitting around is a lot more fun with Netflicks on in the background. But like I've said before. I know this season of my life is short, and Johnny won't be a baby for very long. I don't want to waste it watching past seasons of "What Not to Wear". (On a related note, Alex and I are seeing that we are going to have to change our habits quickly in order to raise our children the way we have talked about. TV only at night when Johnny's asleep. Meals at the table. Read more books. I want Johnny to see me reading more than just my smart phone.) Anyway, I love it that the Church gives us these seasons to restart and refocus.
Seasons of weather. Here in Minnesota we are fortunate (?) enough to really experience all four season. Our summers are humid and 100 degrees and just the other day the high was -2. The HIGH!! Although I hate being cold winter is really a beautiful season. Snow is beautiful. Bare trees are beautiful. The days are short. There is more darkness and silence.
Seasons of the Church. I am truly glad that I live in the northern hemisphere so that advent and Christmas occur during winter. I just can't imagine having Christmas when it's warm outside. And I think it is so beautiful that we await the coming of the Savior in darkness. That all His glory and light break in when night is all around.
The women who I am friends with and mothers with have been talking about ways to prepare for His coming: reading more, examining one's conscience, unplugging and simplifying life, making silence, because silence fosters prayer which fosters growth. And it's been inspiring me to cut back, on social media, but mostly on TV. Anyone with an infant knows that you tend to do a lot of sitting around, and since Johnny's conversation right now is not the most stimulating my sitting around is a lot more fun with Netflicks on in the background. But like I've said before. I know this season of my life is short, and Johnny won't be a baby for very long. I don't want to waste it watching past seasons of "What Not to Wear". (On a related note, Alex and I are seeing that we are going to have to change our habits quickly in order to raise our children the way we have talked about. TV only at night when Johnny's asleep. Meals at the table. Read more books. I want Johnny to see me reading more than just my smart phone.) Anyway, I love it that the Church gives us these seasons to restart and refocus.
It is a custom with many Christians to anticipate the arrival of
Christmas...by fitting up in their homes a crib to represent the
birth of Jesus Christ; but there are few who think to prepare their
hearts, so that the infant Jesus may be born in them...
Let us consider...how the eternal Word had no other end in becoming
man than to inflame us with his divine love.
~St. Alphonsus Liguori