2nd Wednesday of Advent, 2016

Uplifted rock formation

Bearing Our Burdens 

"Jesus said to the crowds: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." ~ Matthew 11:28-30

It has been some years now since I first heard an explanation of this Gospel verse from a priest. I struggled with the "take my yoke upon you...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" portion of the verse for several reasons. The first being that I didn't want to take any one's yoke upon myself, because I was struggling with enough at the time as it already was...I didn't need to add an additional weight of someone's burden to my already over-burdened life, even if it was the Lord who was asking.

How I now shudder to think that I was once so shallow and mean-spirited and selfish. My spiritual director relieved me by asking me if I had ever seen oxen yoked together pulling a heavy weight. Of course, I replied in the affirmative. He went on to explain to me that neither of the oxen could pull such a weight by themselves, but that by pulling together, it made the burden lighter on both of them.
That was something I had never considered, even though I had been married for a number of years and had worked with my spouse to accomplish some things, it never dawned on me that we had been "yoked together" so that we could actually get the job done. Nor had I ever applied it to the Lord, oddly enough.

As I have since learned, when the Lord yokes Himself to me, it is for my benefit and not to make His burden lighter, as I had erroneously thought. He is actually doing me a favor by yoking His Divine Self to my poor and piteous human self and pulling with me through the difficulty. It is an astounding thought...that He would want to...and that I could be so foolish as to not want to be yoked together with the Lord of the Universe. Wow. 

Fortunately, with good spiritual direction, I was able to view that Scripture in the proper light and it opened for me a whole new way of viewing Scripture and the Lord's call in my life.That's the "and learn from me" portion of this Gospel verse. Because I was able to correctly understand this one verse, it opened for me a way to understand better (not something that comes all at once, but a journey of learning) scripture as God meant it to be. And now that I am studying Lectio Divina I understand that God's Word is Him actually speaking to me. To me, personally. Again, Wow. 

 It is still a little intimidating to think that He wants to be yoked to all that burdens me, as I sit and consider all that I have to do and all that is left undone. And that He loves me deeply enough and dearly enough to yoke Himself to me. For me and for my benefit. It's so amazing and I am so in love with you, Lord.

Thank you for all your many blessings and for choosing to yoke yourself to me that I might be able to bear my burdens with ease.

You must learn to accept all that you hear me speaking in the depths of your heart as our Heart to Heart Conversation. Yes, I use my Scripture to begin the conversation, but as we journey along, you must act on the sure knowledge that what you hear in the depths of your heart is actually me speaking to you. It will change your life, as you know from past glimpses of this truth.
My child, I do love you beyond imagining. Fear not. All is well.

Thank you, my Lord! 

First Monday of Advent 2016

Shadow creeps over the mountains as light fades

A New Beginning

"For over all, the Lord's glory will be shelter and protection: shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from storm and rain."~ Isaiah 4:6

The start of Advent, coming as it does in the darkest part of the year, would seem an odd time to think of a new beginning.

At least, for non-Christians. 

Yet, it is the time when hope is brought forth from the darkness to shine brightly in our lives as we prepare for our Lord's coming.

The Lord promises us protection, from the natural elements that threaten us, as well as from evil that stalks around us, seeking our ruin.

How Blessed we are, to have the protection of the Lord of the universe as we journey ever closer to Him, waiting and watchful for the birth of our Savior in the deepest cold of winter's night.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Advent...A New Beginning

Winter Snow makes the red rocks seem vibrant

"Come and save us, Lord our God; let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved."  ~ Psalm 80:4

When I got around to checking on this blog, I was shocked to see how long it had been since I had last written a post. This blog and the posting on it are what I believe the Lord is calling me to, even if no one else ever reads my musings.
So, when praying about what I should do to prepare the way for Christmas and the Coming of the Lord into my heart again, I was led to review my blog. The Lord definitely wants me to use my skills to write a blog. I don't feel particularly skilled or think that I have things worthwhile to say, but He keeps calling me back to it, so He must see something in me that I have been ignoring. So, here we go again.

All this deep introspection has been because of a podcast I listened to on how to determine my apostolate. There were five questions and the first one was "What things do people compliment you on?" So, as I was praying about this and pondering what things I have been complimented on, I was once again brought back to writing and photography. The point of the first question is that if you are good at something...the example used was cooking and that is definitely not one of my skills :-)...then that may be something that the Lord is using as a way to reach people. If, the example goes on, I am good at cooking, then perhaps that skill (question number two, which I will address tomorrow) may be what God wants me to use to reach out to people and evangelize them. I think the point of the podcast is to help us realize that the "E" word (evangelization) doesn't have to be something scary or something that we are reluctant to do. Going door to door to share my faith is not something which would ever come easily to me. However, reaching out by writing is something that has always come easily...more easily than speaking, in fact. It also brings me to my other Advent offering.

An Advent Angel

It has been a custom of our local women's group to anonymously give Advent gifts to someone in our parish family. It's just a way of reaching out to them and letting them know that they are loved and cared for, not only by the "Advent Angel" but by God, who has called a person to give something of themselves to the person(s) of their choice. As a group, we draw names from among those who are attending our meetings, but the group won't meet this year until the third week of Advent, so I felt called to reach out to a couple at the beginning of Advent. The couple the Lord chose for me is a couple a little older than myself and they are facing the challenge of a serious health condition for which there seems to be no remedy. But, as we all know, God has remedies in mind of which the world knows nothing. So, it is my hope and prayer that my reaching out to this couple will enable them to accept God's will and that God will also bless them with a miracle of His choosing. This week, I have sent them a card with some simple bookmarks enclosed. Each week in Advent, I will give them something until Christmas. The ultimate gift, of course, is Christ and as He gives Himself for the Life of the World, perhaps I can give them Christ in the Eucharist by giving as the final present a gift of Masses for them.

A December Ride-About, Dec. 7, 2010

Today my husband and I took a Ride-About...something similar to a walk about, but its done in a pick up truck. We had a glorious day for our adventure and the first thing we spotted along the way was a group of antelope.

A herd of antelope were watching us, wary but not too spooked.

We continued along the way, taking this two track road or that two track road, but looking for the main road because the two tracks were not headed in the direction hubby wanted to travel. Nor me, once I realized that I was the official gate opener. But, eventually we came to a power line, which has a road running along side it and it took us to the road on which we wanted to be.
As we were traveling along, I asked my dear husband to stop so I could practice my photography skills and he was very generous in this regard, He stopped whenever I asked so I could snap photos of whatever intrigued me.
The first of my photos was taken of antelope. Those magnificent creatures that can run at 60 mph for a good while.

The sun, snow and color of the rock caught my eye.

The next thing of interest we came upon was this incredible rock formation. I think the brightly shining sun and the snow both contributed in making this rock formation an interesting photo.

Two cow elk and a calf crossing over a ridge

A herd of elk with interstate traffic and mountains in the background

So, on we went and we were treated to a wonderful view scape all day long. It was a delightful day...hardly any wind and the temperature was in the low 40s, so it was comfortable. We saw probably about 200 elk. Most of them were too far away to catch with my camera, but I did manage to get a few photos. Here's one of three elk just about to cross over the top of a ridge. They were definitely spooky. All of the elk we saw today were keeping a wary eye towards us...they evidently knew where the roads were and just how close we should get to them before they bolted. There's a late hunting season still on-going in this area.

On we went, driving up roads we knew would dead-end at the ridge line, but taking the road just to see what hidden treasures might be found. Amazingly, we saw no rabbits or coyotes out today and both of us thought we should have seen plenty of both those species, but no luck.

A golden eagle on the hunt

As we passed under another rock formation, we saw these two golden eagles come swooping in and are they incredible birds.
Come to think of it, maybe that's why there were no rabbits out. Ha.

On one of the roads we traveled up, we did manage to get over the top of the ridge line...just to get stuck in a huge snowdrift at the top. Hubby spent some time shoveling us out and I took photos of another group of elk. In this photo, you can see the interstate in the distance with trucks traveling along the route. In the distance, a range of mountains.

This eagle soared above me showing off his beautiful markings.

After getting us unstuck, we turned around and came back the way we came in, although hubby told me that if I wasn't there, he would have tried making it through the drift and continuing on along the way we were headed. He deferred to my strong desire not to have to walk anywhere, an event that has happened more than once since we've been married. It was a wise decision. We managed to get back through the snowdrift, albeit with chains on the front wheels and got back to the main road. We could have spent a lot more time traveling up different little two track roads but these roads had been frozen when we came in and as we headed back, it was apparent that they were turning rapidly into a muddy mess, so we opted for home.

It was a fantastic day spent with my husband, just traveling around the country side on a sunny winter Advent day. I thank God for such an opportunity to share in this magnificent creation with which He has blessed us.
What a wonderful Advent blessing you bestowed on me today, Lord. How can I repay you for all your goodness to me? How is it even possible to repay One who can create such beauty and magnificence? 
My child,

 Share what you know of me..yes. Take photos and tell the stories of my blessings. I long to shower such blessings on all humankind. Tell them to pause and enjoy such beauty. My blessings are there for all and I yearn for each soul. Praise me and share my love with all.