Weekly Wildflowers #5

A Little Housekeeping, 3 Quick Takes, Alignment of the Soul

A little housekeeping to start us out. I’m still learning my way around Substack, so I appreciate your patience as I learn more and more features about this unique site.

One such feature is “Sections” of which I just added one, Weekly Wildflowers, officially. This means as a subscriber you have the option to opt-out. If you prefer to have only the Monthly Newsletter show up in your inbox, or only the Weekly, go to this link here to set your subscription preferences. It will take you to your account and subscription for this publication where you can toggle on or off what parts of this newsletter you prefer to have in your inbox.

I woke up on Saturday morning relieved that the week was over. I had spent the better part of each day this past week on the phone or sending emails to insurance, providers and even an unexpected trip to a specialist that fit us in last minute. I have to admit it is bringing back all of the feelings I felt nearly 6 years ago when my son had his first major surgery. The grind, the exhaustion, and feeling my brain stretched very thin - like butter scraped over too much bread (sorry couldn’t help myself.)

Seriously though the wrestling with what is coming has been paramount on my mind which means my mental space for writing has shrunk considerably. Writing is, after all, thoughts put to a page. I’m not entirely certain what my output will be going forward, as you can see by this week’s post going out a day late. Some trusted friends have encouraged me to continue writing even in the hospital, because there will be down time, others have said rest is key and it’s fine to take a break.

I personally feel like taking a wait and see approach is most realistic. There may be a week where I truly do just sit in the hospital while my son sleeps, or rests, or does PT and I just have a flow of ideas, and other weeks where it’s been both physically and mentally exhausting so no words form in my very drained brain.

All this to say, I love being in this space and being a part of this community, so if it’s touch and go come August, you know why and can be assured I’m not gone for long, just in the trenches of life and who knows, there will probably be a lesson or many that come from it.

Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1880

3 Quick Takes

1. As any friend who has known me for a time can attest to, during any national crisis or traumatic historical event I often call on those around me to pray. It is not being Pollyanna to suggest that prayer is powerful, that it can effect real change and also inform our actions. In fact, one of our main jobs as Christians is to pray. So friends, in light of the attempted assassination of former President Trump, I sincerely and fully ask for your prayers. We all know something is not right in our nation, as we feel more divided than ever, but I confidently say this - prayer is the first step. So let us pray. Pray for our nation, pray for those who were killed and injured, and pray for each other.

2. After I read one great article by

   Freya India
   titled Our New Religion Isn’t Enough, I just had to slowly make my way through more of her work. It’s been slow going, as I described above - limited brain bandwidth. Still, I came across this article by Freya that spoke to my growing hesitation with continuing to use social media. As a writer, it has been shared with me on more than one occasion that publishers look to see if you have a platform. I do, one I built up from nothing and while it is not the largest it is something - maybe even something that could help me publish down the road. As it’s grown I’ve continued to ask myself what to do with it and how to be present responsibly, both online and off. More and more I’m finding I have less and less good reasons to continue to hold on to it. Anyway, be sure to read her article, What’s Become of Us. I found this quote particularly on point.

3. Joe has recently been making great progress in his ACL repair journey. Yes, it’s been a full year of surgeries already. Still, one of my favorite developments from his recovery has been evening walks. After dinner, he wordlessly puts on his shoes, and one by one the kids follow suit, soon I find myself begrudgingly slipping on some hiking sandals and off we go with our slightly overweight beagle in tow. These walks are meant to help him strengthen his quad and they have been such a boon. The kids have even started biking again, something they haven’t done since our move. The dog might be losing weight, or it could be the angle, still I’ll take it. Mostly though, it’s been helping us not sit and just turn on the tv to watch a show together, collectively lowering our screen time. Instead, we’re moving our bodies, getting some sunlight, and extending our conversations from the dinner table. We even meet a few of the neighbors that our outside. All wins!

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Devotional Corner

As a trained biologist I spent many years learning about biological systems, how they work together, how they fall apart and the value of each component aligning in order for the whole system to thrive.

These past several weeks I’ve been relearning the skeletal system of the body as my son prepares for his major orthopedic surgery. Learning about how valuable it is for this bone to connect to that bone and how each supports the other in the growth of a thriving body able to not only handle everyday gross motor tasks but minor ones, and how if even one little thing is off this can affect the whole system, maybe not immediately but the fruits of it are noticeable years down the road.

In sharing this news of my sons surgery with a friend, she mentioned something that I’ve been chewing on for a couple weeks - alignment. She said, in response to my news, that it sounds an awful lot like how our spiritual lives need to be aligned with God’s will to become holy. Much in the way our body requires proper alignment, and for each component within to work together for our overall health, similarly our spiritual health is determined by proper alignment of our desires, and our actions, with God’s will.

And this makes sense on a basic level doesn’t it? We know that our existence is both physical and spiritual, that what we do with our bodies informs our souls and that God became incarnate, taking on flesh, elevating us as creatures by this divine condescension. The two cannot be separate.

So when something is out of alignment in our spiritual lives, whether we aren’t really praying any more, or going to Mass regularly, reading the scriptures, or partaking in the sacrament of reconciliation, whatever it is, over time our spiritual health begins to decline. We can lose sight of God’s will in our lives. Our desires, our will, gradually gets out of alignment with God’s, our priority is no longer holiness.

Yet it’s so easy to get out of alignment, isn’t it? Slowly, almost imperceptibly, we can start to prioritize one more TV show over having that quiet prayer time in the evening, or not going to Mass because guests are in town, skipping out on confession because you went a few months ago and still feel fine, not picking up that devotional, or listening to that podcast that gets you into God’s word because Facebook or Instagram are that consuming.

All things I’ve done friends, and I can tell you when I finally break down and ask God for the grace to overcome my lukewarmness, this steady path towards mis-alignment of my desires with God’s, comes to a screeching halt. My heart is not only full of remorse but by grace I can see where I have mis-aligned my priorities, I was putting other things before growing in love for the Lord.

Friends, this isn’t to say we can’t have recreation, scroll online, or spend time with visiting guest. Nor does it mean that we always have to use all our spare time thinking about God, our nose in the Bible. It comes down to priorities, and our goals in life, it comes down to asking ourselves if what were doing with our time, and our bodies, is in alignment with God’s will, which is always that we will become holy.

So I want to encourage you today, even if it feels like every single day you struggle with prioritizing God, with being aligned with Him in your life, ask God for some help. Ask Him for grace to overcome and to seek Him more fervently. Ask for wisdom. Ask for holy friendships to support you. Most of all ask for a willing heart to be aligned with His.

Discussion Questions:

This section is a starting off point to help you go deeper with topics discussed above.

1. What is one small way you can bring your heart back into alignment with God? Could it be setting aside 5 minutes of prayer time in the car, or even the shower, where He has your full attention (or most of it). Stick with that for a week, and then add 5 minutes to that. Keep going and see how God is moving to align your will with His.

2. We all have things that we feel are keeping us from growing in our faith. Identify it, write it down, say it out loud, and then think of one way you can start to put this thing in its proper place in your life. If it’s TV, how can you effectively limit your time so you save some for yourself and God? If it’s social media or games, what steps can you take to carve out time for prayer, or reading the Bible instead?

3. I always think prayer is powerful, especially when we pray for one another. Being in alignment with God’s will is a daily battle. We aren’t alone. First, please consider saying a prayer for all who read this newsletter, that they may have the grace sufficient to re-align their will, their lives with God’s will. Second, find a saint who struggles with what you do. I guarantee you’ll be surprised! Ask them to pray for you. They know what it is to struggle with following after Christ, and still they became holy, became saints.

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Quote of the Week

“Blessed in the crisis that made you grow, the fall that made you gaze up to Heaven, the problem that made you look for God!” - St. Padre Pio

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What do You Drink in the Morning?

You all are definitely my people. I’m a big coffee drinker in the morning and generally do not survive long without a cup, as my husband Joe can attest to, though every evening we do sit down with a nice cup of tea to round out the day.

I’m genuinely curious to see how this week’s Poll turns out!