Mercy

Mercy is another name for love. Love is another word for life.

I rode my bike nearly 20 miles after an intense Divine Mercy retreat this weekend. I wanted to make it to the end of the trail as a symbol for hope in my life – you can do it; you can make it to the end and then come back. Persevere in hope!

I passed the midway point and noticed that I was on the trail alone. I’ve ridden this path numerous times and always known the danger of riding alone, but the thought of threat was strong today. I imagined a bad man would see me alone and take advantage of the situation. Then I saw a bike without its rider propped on the fence.

I quickly looked around.

A child’s voice broke through my fear.

“Are you riding your bike?”

“Yea,” I reflexively replied, a bit defensive.

Once I realized it was a child who called me, I played in my mind with the other responses I could have given her.

“Hmm. I wonder how that got there?” “Did anyone put a bike under me?” “Is that what this looks like?” “A bike? Where?”

Then I looked up. The little girl stood at the top of the hill above me with her dad and brother.

“Hi down there!” she shouted.

“Hi up there!” I replied. Her dad laughed.

My fears evaporated. I was filled with delight and God’s love.

I had tried to pray to God the Father on my ride. It’s a difficult work for me. 

Then I thought that the little girl was Jesus to me. And she was with her Father. And the Father loved her, and they both loved me in that moment. The Holy Spirit took away my fear.

God sees me in the pit. He knows my fears, and my hopes and dreams, and my deep desire to know His personal love. So He breaks through.

“I see you down there,” He says to me playfully and seriously. “I’ve been there too. Remember when I was held in a pit before I died for you?”

"Let me stay with you. Let me be with you. Let me come to you."

"Then, let me move in you again. Let me cut the ropes of fear and deceit that bind you, and set you free."

I also thought about the glory of child-likeness. I was down and looked up to see a child. Humility, surrender. To become little again. Dependent on God. And then raised to glory. With freedom from fear and openness to love those who trod the path beneath me. 

The climb seems long before I would be able to share the joy of freedom with others who struggle.

But I have hope. There is Mercy. There is love. There is life.

Lord, heal me and lead me to forgiveness.

JESUS, I trust in you. FATHER, have mercy on me. HOLY SPIRIT help me to surrender. Through Mary. Amen.

Gratitude

I am grateful for the kids I teach. I am grateful for my job. I'm grateful for my life. I am grateful for friends. I'm grateful for humor. I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for people who love me. I am grateful for my Faith. I'm grateful for the chance to grow in love with God. 

I'm grateful for creativity and choices and  the need for total dependence on God and to see very little things in my life as great gifts.

My friend's daughter calls Parmesan cheese "snow."

We ran out of holy water in my classroom. One of my students suggested we bless each other without holy water and make a sign of the cross on each other's foreheads. Another of my students had a different idea. She had just come back from the bathroom, and thankfully had washed her hands well. 

"We could just use my wet sleeves," she suggested.

I am grateful that six of the chicks hatched (even after the trauma of a child having dropped one of the eggs and it smelling up my classroom--ironically we were also reading Charlotte's Web, and Templeton the rat had just received the dud egg from the goose...) I am grateful that chicks cheep inside their shells right before they hatch. What an awesome sound!

I am grateful that my kids wrote funny songs about Pennsylvania, since we're  learning about the states and that state doesn't have a state song.

Three fine specimens:

1. 

P, P, P Pennsylvania P, P, P Pennsylvania 

Go PA!

The capital is Harrisburg. It is the second state.

Boom!

2.

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania I love you.

We like to go to the Franklin Institute.

We can watch the Flyers, Steelers, and Pittsburgh Penguins!

3.
Boo Pirates! 

Go Phillies! 

Pennsylvania rocks the country!

We are awesome!

We eat beef!

We love Pennsylvania!

We trust you!

We eat corn.

We fish for bass.

And I'm grateful that they made the coolest Easter vigil fire I've ever seen.

In process ...

Finished.

New Life

Last year was a very long, snowy, cold Canadian winter. I survived it with a scientific and logical mantra which I repeated from February until May: "Nothing can stop Spring from coming."

I thought of that mantra this year when Easter came. I am still a sinner. I did not live a perfect Lent. My heart is still filled with wounds that need to be healed. Yet Jesus died for me in the middle of it all. Today: "Nothing can stop Jesus from rising from the dead."

He did it. Jesus rose from the grave. Easter happened. It continues to unfold. Daily. In my life. Personally. He rose to give me hope, joy, peace and freedom. 

Jesus, your resurrection is not just Faith; it's a fact. There were witnesses. You have walked with me throughout my life. That is a fact too. And there are witnesses. Help me to remember that you're with me every day. When I forget, inspire my friends to remind me of my journey.

You are here. New life is reality. Nothing can stop Spring from coming. You made me for eternal happiness.

Thank you for Easter. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for good friends.

Jesus I trust in you. Help me to live this mantra through winters and springs alike.

Good Friday

I love you. I love you more.

Babies

Holding babies is extremely comforting and brings me great joy! Thank you, Jesus for babies.

Fool Loved First

“We love because he first loved us.”—1 John 4:19

God loves me through so many friends who have reached out to me recently in tough times, and through humor—especially in my classroom. This love sustains me and inspires me to share joy with others.

April Fools’ Day is a catalyst for comical vignettes. Here are First Grade's jokes of the day:

“There’s an elephant behind you!” broke the ice, which prompted… “There’s an egg behind you!”

…What? Where? You don’t say!

“There’s a chick on your head!”

Theme-related jokes upped the ante; ironically, the chick eggs were delivered to our classroom incubator today.

My favorite joke was:

“Today’s not April Fools’ Day!”… “April Fools!”

Childlikeness must be what it means to be a fool for Christ – dependence on His mercy in the moment, and seeking joy there, even when the world tempts me to become anxious about the future.

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We also created chick haikus recently. I wrote a few examples on the board. One of my students got the concept, but wanted to know who would write the poems.

“Who’s it going to be by?” she asked, “Robert Louis Stevenson” or [my first and last name]?”

Her exposure to poetry is clearly limited to my classroom…but I could not contain surprised laughter when she used my first name… of course, the other kids just took it in stride.

I told this same child that there would be a desk check that day. When her desk was clean, she announced to me, “My desk is ready to meet you. It’s ready to say, ‘Hello.’”

I laughed and was shocked to see how clean it really was. I congratulated her on its impeccable state and she gleefully replied, “What’s my prize? A sticker? A really big trophy? A stick?” (We’re still working on the Easter Vigil fire…)

Another day I told her that she cracks me up. She replied, “You are the best teacher ever! I’m going to write you a thank you card.”

I haven’t received it yet, but I’m sure she will. Her homemade “Snow Days” card is on my fridge. The outside says, “Happy Snow Days,” and inside is the thoughtfully obvious message, “This is for you.”

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Another child found a treasure in the scrap paper bin today (used mostly for Spelling tests and paper airplanes).

“This is cool!” she exclaimed as she held a homework template I had made, but not given the children since they received assignment books –yesterday—and there was no longer a need. “Today is a very cool day for me,” she reiterated. (Simply because she found a HOMEWORK template in the SCRAP bin).

The children have begun to fashion “air craft carriers” out of desks pushed together at Choice Time—an education term (?) for free play at the end of the day. I’ve laid the law: No airplanes may fly in the air; but the little ones discovered a loop hole…the planes can leave their hands if the folded paper slides over desk “air craft carriers,” built like runways.

This new invention is a simple joy factory— for me too.

Once, with my back to the planes, I heard a knock at the door. I looked out and saw parents in dialogue at the end of the hall. They watched my interaction with a second grader who held an airplane in his hand.

“Is this yours?” he asked.

Well, it definitely wasn’t mine, I wanted to say… (the craftsmanship with probably a whole sleeve of staples was way too advanced), but I could not deny that it was not one of my student’s. I mean, there really weren’t any other options. Of course it belongs to us! But who wants to admit that?

First grade splits a classroom with second grade and I have no doubt that The Little Airplane That Could “flew” off the “air craft carrier” right under the classroom divider into second grade.

I can only imagine what it must have been like for that student to see an airplane zoom past his feet as he attempted to soak in some last bit of new knowledge before dismissal …

Needless to say, I met the gaze of the parents, laughed wholeheartedly red faced, without explanation, and returned to my room.

Why do I think I need a lot to be happy? I really just need love and laughter. Which comes from God reaching out to me, running after me, LOVING ME FIRST in the present moment.

Thank you God for the joy of today. Please help me to live HERE. Through Mary (my Mother and friend). Amen.

P.S. Our holy water has grown “allergies” … green algae. And I let my germ-a-phobe students wash their foreheads in the bathroom so they won’t get “sick.” Perhaps I’ll let them wash the bottle tomorrow. Thank you God for your everyday love.