Crafting Is Grown-Up Play

I absolutely love losing myself in some creative endeavor.  The inspiration for this menu board was one I saw on Pinterest. It combines several aspects of my life. I love to craft and cook, and I'm always trying to be more organized, and I'm always looking for ways to stay on my diet. So, as I started going to Weight Watcher's this week, I thought that actually using this menu, board that I made months ago would be a good idea.  Kelly, my daughter-in-law and I each created a menu board together.  She's my inspiration in trying to be more purposeful about my menus. She plans her menus for each night of the week and then shops accordingly.  I realized today that following her lead will give me more control over my evening meals.  I love this board because it reminds me of Kelly and because it gives me inspiration to be organized and to stay on my diet plan.

This One Is So Hard

     When I became a Catholic, there were beliefs that I thought would be hard to accept. I studied for a year before my confirmation, and in that time, God gave me the gift of faith and obedience, at least mostly. While some of the teachings of my new church were still difficult, I learned to pray about them and to be patient both with myself and with God's timing. Understanding comes in waves as we are ready for more. One of my favorite parts of being a Catholic is the 2000 years of Church tradition, the firm foundation of a faith that can trace its roots to the apostles, a Church that was established by Jesus. Mine is a church that teaches as the magisterium and when there is a difference between my conscience and the official teachings of the church, the magisterium, I have to go with the magisterium because I know that I can trick my conscience when I want to believe something is okay. All this is to say that the teachings of the Church on contraception are the hardest teachings for me to follow. I understand the teaching intellectually. I truly believe in the sanctity of ALL life and the sanctity of marriage and of the marriage act. But believing intellectually and having enough faith to practice that belief has always been difficult for me personally. Whatever difficulty I have with the practice of my faith, though, is between me and my Lord, and He has worked out a path for me that will never fail me.
All of that being said, this post is not about my own beliefs on contraception. This post is about my Church. The Catholic church does not consult polls to explain God's laws. It does not change a belief when the practice of that belief is difficult. I can point to scripture and thousands of years of Church teaching to support the Catholic belief on contaception; however, that's not my purpose here. My purpose is to tell you that the Catholic church has the right to teach its people God's law as it is interpreted by the magisterium, and the US Government does not have the right to ask the Church to violate its teachings because it disagrees with those teachings. Those of you who believe that this battle is about women's health are very sadly mistaken; I say sadly because your belief does not take into account a loving God who created you and loves you and knows you and wants what's best for you. He will never fail you. A woman's ability to carry life inside of her body is an unbelievable blessing from God and is about so much more than what meets the eye. Don't believe the lies being told; your body belongs to God and is a holy temple. Your treatment of this temple has far reaching consequences that you can't understand. 
This battle is about the Church's authority to guide its people as it sees fit and as the Holy Spirit directs it. No female is forced to follow the Catholic Church or to work for a Catholic institution or to attend a Catholic school. The fact that they chose to do so should not force the Catholic Church to violate its conscience to in any way promote or condone the use of contraception. Freedom of religion is a precious American right. That freedom should be defended at all cost.

Ash Wednesday

     Even though living according to your faith can be difficult, Ash Wednesday reminds us that, with God, we can start over at any time.  The message of Ash Wednesday is that life is short. As we move about in this world, it's easy to lose sight of what's important. We are all sinners, and we are reminded of that on Ash Wednesday. We are asked to fast today and abstain from eating meat in atonement for our sins, not because we believe that making sacrifices removes our sins, but because making sacrifices makes us stronger while reminding us that though we are all sinners, God has a plan for us. Through Christ our sins are wiped clean when we repent of those sins. Abstaining and fasting are our human ways of showing the Lord that we are repenting, and the ashes we receive are our reminder that no matter how strong we become, we will always need the Lord because we are only humans. We come from dust, and we will return to dust.