Tag Archives: meditation

Apr 16 2025
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Bible, health, random

Healing and Reflection: A Journey Through Lent

AKA #lentphotoaday April 16th, word is “HERE“

HERE for it. Present. Ready and willing. Open to God.

I talked about this little Lent refection project to my therapist today. I hadn’t seen her for a few weeks since I was sick, then hospitalized for a week. She was worried and we had a lot of catch up on, mostly focusing on how I need to put all my concentration on getting better. There is no more room for any energy to go elsewhere, other than healing up. We talked about how me being more present to reflect during these spiritually guided meditations is really helping me to stay in my lane. It’s also filling my empty and lonely times with purpose.

So let’s dig in. With Easter just a hop, skip and a jump away…see what I did there?

Not HERE: On what we call Easter Day, Mary Magdalene and the women go into the tomb to see Jesus’ body and they are met with these words: Matthew 28:5-6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

I remember going to Sunday school when I would stay with my grandparents in New Franklin, Ohio. My parents would drop us off there for a week at a time, when they would go on fancy, tropical vacations with friends. There were the good church and there was the yucky church. The good church was the little Presbyterian church right down the street from their house. Grandma was the Sunday school teacher and I can almost smell the glue that we would use to adhere the felt Jesus on the construction paper. We would paste him coming out of the tomb where he was resurrected and leaving for his ascension to Heaven. We colored in the words “HE HAS RISEN” and we framed the paper with popsicle sticks. Then we drank apple juice and munched on Voortman-esque wafer cookies.

I feel like I need a refresher. I remember there being a Jesus cross and resurrection timeline, but I don’t remember the details.

WHOA. I’ll give you a minute. Fascinating to look at it with grown up eyes.

So, Nisan is the first month is the Jewish calendar. Palm Sunday is also the 10th day of Nisan. Today is the 13th of Nisan. To put it in the perspective of this week, on Sunday, the 10th of Nisan, Jesus called himself the Passover Lamb. Wednesday (today) is the day before The Last Supper. It’s also the day that Judas decides to betray Jesus and also, they are getting ready to have a last meal together. Wouldn’t you have given anything to be seated at that table?

Love you.

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Apr 15 2025
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Bible, family, health, holidays, random, writing

Journey of Silence, Celebration, and Preparation

#lentphotoaday weekend catch-up for April 12th, 13th and 14th “SILENT,” “CELEBRATE,” and “PREPARED“

I guess I can’t really get myself out of Saturday’s prompt by being SILENT. (insert cheeky grin). This is my journey and it’s pointless for me not to be on the actual ride, so off we go.

There is “A time to keep silent, and a time to speak” – Ecclesiates 3:7. 

I have spent my whole life getting into trouble being too vocal. Mostly oversharing. I think it’s a battle of self-control. Proverbs 17:28 says  “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” Focusing on being interested in listening, instead of talking is always good practice. In my younger years, I think it might have come off as more cute and a little kooky. Now, it definitely puts people off and I think it’s one of the reasons that, particularly right now, I’m short in the friend department. I’m nothing if not self-aware. That’s a 2025 goal to find a new friend. I am putting in the work and the reflection and I do think opening myself up to be more spiritual is part of the process. It’s just a symptom of being lonely. It can be corrected. For starters, I have been working on trying not to share every little feeling that I have with every little conversation I have. It’s been a practice that I have been working on for at least a year. Sometimes I think it backfires because I think it just makes me come off as a little weird and distant. I’m still tweaking it, as I continue to be a work in progress. Getting out more, focusing on others, searching for ways to put myself into the land of the living is another perfect spring goal. In the SILENT moments, my heart, my ears and my mind remain open to everything.

In our current political environment, it’s hard to find the CELEBRATIONS. But they are all around us, we just have to open up our eyes to find them. Birthdays and anniversaries happen around us every day. Last week I got to celebrate two amazing birthdays of two out of three of my outstanding children. These were CELEBRATIONS that were responses to God’s gifts of the blessings we have in our lives. My oldest turned a quarter of a century and that’s certainly a humdinger. My baby turned 19 and while she was a thousand miles away at college, I worked really hard to make sure she felt celebrated, even when she was not with her family for the first time in her life. I sent her a cheesecake and she loved it. I went out of my comfort zone and went to a Comicon show with my son; loved every minute. Meet the world’s newest D&D fan. I figured out workarounds to make their celebrations happen and being to CELEBRATE joy and thanks of one of God’s many great gifts.

Lots of different meanings in the Bible for PREPARED. It can mean preparing for events coming, as in spiritual readiness or just simply packing a good backpack to be ready to do God’s good work. I would like to think that packing that bag and figuring out what to put in it is kind of part of my journey here. I am exploring what tools and supplies I may need to become a better spiritual version of myself. Noah built the Ark, The Wise versions prepared their lamps, Israelites preparing for Passover. This way, when the time comes that I need to call on my spirituality for help and guidance, I am PREPARED.

Love you.

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