Posts Tagged ‘god’
The Music of the Pearl
I finished reading John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and asked the question, why? Why couldn’t they have surrendered the pearl to the trackers when they saw them coming? They could have just tossed them the pearl, flown their white flag, and pursued a more normal life.
Read MoreWhere Did My Attention Go?
Last year, after reading Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God, it seemed critical to put Br. Lawrence’s wisdom into practice. So, to help encourage the practice in my life, I took a stack of little Post-It notes, scribbled PPG on each one, and taped these reminders in hidden and not-so-hidden places around my house, my laptop, and in our car.
Read MoreA New Look at St. Francis
Elizabeth Goudge’s work, My God and My All: The Life of St. Francis of Assisi, has been a blessing! Her deep academic study of St. Francis’s life, told as a narrative, has given me a new lens through which to perceive the man.
Read MoreThe Aeneid, Imagination, and Literary Reflection
I attended the Well-Read Mom “Awaken Your Heart” conference in Milwaukee earlier this month. There were so many beautiful things about the weekend, not the least of which was being with many other like-minded women who were reading the same thing. During this conference, many conversations were about The Aeneid. Being right in the thick of this book myself, I couldn’t help but connect much of what I heard from the speakers to Virgil’s poem.
Read MoreFinding Charis
I began my journey in the Year of the Seeker by responding to a forwarded email from a friend inviting me to join a local Well-Read Mom group. It was July, and my husband and I were coordinating the fall schedules of our seven children. We had also just found out we were expecting. Though I have been an avid reader since childhood, I have never participated in a book club. I thought reading some new books and chatting with like-minded women might be a good opportunity.
Read MoreThe Restless Human Heart in the Search for Happiness
Yesterday, while driving my lively entourage from school, I entered into a dispute with my twelve-and-a-half-year-old son. Frustrated at his mother’s cruel infringements upon, what I considered, his all-too-free speech, he passionately retorted: “What about the First Amendment?” I could relate to my son’s bristling at limitations upon personal desire. Practically, all it takes is a mother’s encounter with her unruly toddler, wailing in exasperation as a contraband item is loosened from his iron grip to vividly illustrate the universal struggle to tame our desires. From our earliest moments, we consider submission to authority as infringing upon our freedom and, subsequently, our happiness.
Read More“Friendship? Yes Please!”
In addition to the maternal embrace, prayers, and tears of Saint Monica, Saint Augustine needed the wisdom, presence, and friendship of Saint Ambrose! He needed a home and a community to find God and serve Him.
Read MoreHow Boldness is Both Necessary and Attainable
If “true grit” is an unflappable determination in the face of any circumstances, however horrific, challenging, or dire, the question remains: is this a natural gift or an attainable virtue?
Read MoreDracula and the Sacredness of Marriage
I love reading aloud to my husband. We have enjoyed this activity ever since we were dating, but for the past few years we’ve made it an intentional habit. As soon as the booklist was released for this year, I knew that Dracula would be our next readaloud.
Read MoreVampires Aren’t Real, but Evil Is
This month, we read Dracula. That’s not what I was expecting from Well-Read Mom. But as I read the depictions of evil beating against Lucy’s window, I found myself silently urging her friends for greater vigilance in their fight to save her from its clutches; I saw clear parallels in my own life.
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