Summer Minutia: The Hasty Respite
Acorns, healing children, saving nations, rehabbing bodies
I don’t know when it happened, but the endless summers of my youth have turned into an oh-so-brief interlude between one cold season and another. I don’t think it’s a me problem since I want nothing more than to enjoy these days. I blame it on the school season and on the election cycle. There’s always something institutional making a claim on the rhythm of God’s seasons. The at-a-glance feature on my calendar is an enemy of my peace.
In spite of the encroachment, summer is a stunning and precious season and I’m not missing it, just working through the whiplash of earthly time. The season has been lovely and busy so far.
The acorns are already growing but I’m not panicking yet. They’re still green. The hickory nuts are starting to grow as well and I am excited about baking with them come fall.
WHAT I’M READING
This book is on loan to me from a friend who found it life changing. I’ve also shared it with one of my daughters and we’re discussing as we read. Though we may not all have experienced relationships exactly the way the book describes, it is beneficial to examine the wounds of childhood. The way we learn to love and to be loved in our formative years impacts the mental, physical, and spiritual health of generations.
I desire to be fully liberated to love well and I want my children to be the same. The older I get in motherhood, the more willing I am to self examine without getting caught in the trap of despair and self-loathing. I want to be free. I want my children to be free.
The hardcover book is pricey but worth the investment if it can change a life, but the copyright holder has also made it available free via PDF.
SPEAKING OF HEALING AND PARENTING…
If dad is pious, attends Mass, and prays, but fails to parent with love & wisdom…
And mom teaches the faith but is manipulative and withholds affection…
The kids may come to associate faith with pain, having parents who fervently believe but also lack healthy relationship skills and proper human formation. All parents are flawed sinners but some are more wounded than others. When our piety fails to transform our actions but only affirms ego, it is false and becomes more of a noose than a liberation for the children.
I’m not writing to discourage, but to offer hope. Healing is possible even if our kids are grown.
To FEEL holy and spiritually accomplished is not the same as to be close to Christ and equipped for His purpose. Piety is only liberating when it equips us to change and be life-giving.
A Catholic friend recently commented about the tendency in some families “to focus excessively on piety and not at all on charity.” She concluded…
“If you give this dissonance to children, and victimize them with it, they are RIGHT (on a rational basis) to reject both piety AND faith as they grow and leave the home.”
Though the young can wrongly reject that which is holy and healthy in a home (we're all sinners after all), it’s also true that they will run from a source of pain.
In my own life, I saw that radical feminism failed to love and provide for me and so it was easy enough to turn towards Christianity. The same can be said of a child from a religious home who has been taught the faith but did not experience healthy love…
They have to walk with the dissonance or somehow resolve it. And it may take leaving for a bit to find the love of Jesus Christ on their own terms. We are charged with the passing on of the faith even as we struggle with good mental, physical and spiritual health, and we need not be afraid of being imperfect parents…
But we must work on it with a will.
Let’s begin in the Heart of Christ to learn tenderness, mercy, and be healed of our own wounds so that we can better care our children; not just via textbooks but through our eyes, words, tone, hands, and service.
*Originally posted on Instagram*
SUMMER PURCHASING
Favorite sunscreen products. I have lupus and I am highly reactive to the sun. My body struggles with cell clearance with UV exposure and that causes an autoimmune response. I am also sensitive to toxic ingredients and don’t buy into the lie that every sun exposure causes cancer.
Since I have an experienced a lot of healing and I want the benefits of the sun, I don’t typically wear sunscreen. The exception is for long or intense exposure and then I choose this non-toxic line, which feels more like applying skin care than sun block. They have cream, spray, and stick options. Buy it here
PLANNING FOR FALL…
I have tried out different planning methods over the years and have settled on a good planner for myself and a blank notebook for daily homeschooling. There are many lovely functional planners out there but I keep coming back to this one from Blessed is She. I think I like the spiral bound best but this hardcover is stunning.
ARE YOU THINKING OF HOMESCHOOLING?
Maybe this is your Holy Spirit nudge.
If you’re on the fence or even struggling with where you are right now in homeschooling, read more here: Homeschooling is Not My Vocation
IS IT TRUE THAT GOD CAN SAVE A NATION?
Is it true that God can save a nation? It must be true. We have seen from history how God saves His people and does whatever necessary to bring us to Himself. What does it look like for a good Father to save a people as they pursue their own destruction? Christians know what it looks like.
God can save America... by saving the people He loves and who bear His image. He calls us out of the darkness and awaits our response.
If America can be saved, it will come by way of the family. Through the healing of the hearts within the homes designed by God to bear witness to the love of the Trinity, modeled by the Holy Family, and sustained by His Spirit and Sacrament.
Heal the person, heal the family, heal the Church, heal the country, heal the world.
Independence Day is a celebration of freedom from tyranny. But as Christians we know...
Men always become little tyrants when they turn away from God. So even while we mourn and oppose the loss of goodness in our leaders and neighbors, we turn with vigor to building liberated homes. And souls.
Some of Jesus’ followers expected Him to become an earthly king. Some of us today expect the answer to our prayers for America will end with earthly restoration. That would be nice. Perhaps it is even possible. But is it true that God can save a nation? Yes. And He will start on the battlefield of every heart.
We cannot quickly change governments. It is when we learn to love and to be loved in the family, that souls change and the impact of Christ in the world is not only possible but rapid. In the midst of life’s details...
Sitting on the lawn,
Changing diapers,
Wearing diapers,
Quiet fidelity,
Persistent gratitude, perseverance, and praise,
Underneath His holy gaze...
Let us build something. Uncover. Make space for the Holy Spirit to reign. Living mercy and charity in obedience to Love Himself. This is the heart of Church, country, home. Oh, blessed plodding sweetness of the first school of charity!
I pray I may always be privileged to celebrate freedom with fireworks! But first... Love.
*Video is my fireworks finale view on Independence Day. The fireworks were wonderful, and even better because of the good man overseeing them.
GIVING THANKS…
One year ago, I struggled on a 2-mile hike because I still lacked so much stability in my hip (torn labrum). Eight months ago, I tore my shoulder labrum. Four weeks ago, I still couldn’t raise my arm overhead. This past week, I squatted 6 reps of 115 pounds under the bar. The seasons of life alternately deflate and delight. Part of maturation is learning not to panic when stuff hurts and just trusting the Master Planner and His process.
I’m not young anymore, but I’m not dead yet either. I have an 8-year old, grandchildren, and presumably a lot of life left to go. I need to stay engaged in whatever capacity the good Lord allows. Sitting around and allowing pain, chronic illness, and fatigue to bully me into rapid decline is not the way.
I’m grateful for this moment. For every breath. For every weight I get to carry.
Blessed be God forever.
Melody
P.S. Just some fun stuff I grabbed from the internet…
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