"My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh." Song of Solomon 1:13
Friday, March 21st, 2014
March 19th is the Feast of St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus. I’m sure it’s just me but Joseph seems to be one of those saints easily overlooked, lurking in the background, in the shadow of Mary and certainly of Jesus.
Joseph is many times painted as looking pretty frail, sad and always holding those lillies. But in my mind he was a little more manly than that. We don’t know much about him but I believe it’s safe to assume he was just like any Daddy.
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
Monday we celebrated the Feast of St. Patrick (along with the rest of the world).
We started the day with Shamrock and Bishop staff cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We prayed for missionaries and sang O Blessed Light, O Trinity LSB 890.
Sunday, March 9th, 2014
“To have the righteousness of faith, and to teach that to the children God gives to us, that, my friends, is the greatest joy in life, and the most fervent prayer of every Christian parent, whether with one child or a dozen, is that God will keep our children trusting in the merits of Jesus until they die in peace.” Rolf Preus And God Blessed Them
It’s no secret around here, I really like ordering our days by the church calendar. But because my life is so full with just keeping everyone fed, clothed and clean I have been simplifying our commemorations and celebrations.
I still enjoy doing little crafts, making food appropriate to the day a couple years ago I was able to do much more, but I’m finding that these days sometimes all I can work in is telling my children that “Today is fill in the blank, this is why we remember this saint or why we celebrate this event, talk amongst yourselves.”
And that’s fine. Because we can have the most beautiful feasts but if we fail to teach our children, then we have truly failed.
Thursday, March 6th, 2014
Ashes…check.
Every year I sit down to think about how our family will observe the season of Lent. What we will Take Up and what, if anything, we will Give Up. Which hymns we will work on learning, bible verses, lessons. I enjoy the penitential seasons of the church, the time to reflect, to hide God’s words in our hearts, to commit to memory good hymns and to serve others.
I can start off with a bang but the inevitable fizzle comes quickly after a couple weeks….”weeks” if I’m lucky. Not that I don’t want to continue what we’ve started, but it gets hard. With a lot of babies around even the simplest of plans can be quickly foiled. And really, that’s ok.
So we begin with some good ideas and a good dose of being “realistic”. Also, keeping very aware that Lent is NOT something I come out on the other side of holier than when I went into. It is good for the Christian to pray, to fast, to give, to discipline and mortify our flesh. Lent makes me quickly realize how much I stink at praying, fasting, giving and disciplining the flesh.
But thankfully my “doing” or “not doing” doesn’t make me righteous. That “Win” belongs to Christ who covers us in His victory. His “doing” and “not doing” won our righteousness. He wins over Sin, Death and the Devil for us.
So whatever you and your family decide to do this Lent remember you might keep very diligent, you might fall flat on your face, but through Christ you’ve already won. Won over the death and sin we stare in the face each day, not just during Lent but every day. Thanks be to God.
Well, I wasn’t going to say any of that. But I saw the above picture yesterday and I laughed a really good laugh, then laughed some more and then it got me thinking….so there’s that.
