Thankful Thursday - reminders

Picture this.

I'm on my hand and knees carefully running my palm over the carpet in my room.  I'm desperately feeling for the back to my earring.  Naturally, it's a small, clear back for dangling earrings and I have a cream white carpet. Not a good combination.  As I'm tamping down my frustration, trying to decide how much time I really should spend looking for this, a bible story comes to mind.  The woman who lost a coin:

"Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it?"  ~Luke 15:8

I glance around and think, 'No way am I moving everything in this room!'  The room isn't that big, but not for a single, replaceable earring back.  It's not worth it.  And yet, I am reminded that when either I or another person is lost, God would overturn everything to bring us home.  

"And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  ~Luke 15:9-10

And so it goes . . .

Church of the Transfiguration - Israel

Life has been rather surprising the past 6 weeks.  When I started writing my Christmas letter for 2015, my focus was on my pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as most everything else in my life was the same . . . At least at that moment in time.

Advent 2015 began much the same as previous years - focus on preparation, worrying about getting things done, and trying to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  There were Christmas parties to plan, and reconciliation service to attend.  It was especially memorable to think that I was preparing for my pilgrimage to the Holy Land just one short year ago.  I felt a new connection to Mary and Joseph and their journey to Bethlehem.  

The week of Christmas was when life took an unexpected turn.  A casual inquiry about a job quickly became an interesting dilemma.  I wasn't looking, and it showed up.  Lots of prayer and thinking happened over the next days.  It quickly became obvious that this could be a huge opportunity for me, which was both scary and exciting.  Despite the fear of change, I felt called to this move.  This was the opportunity to focus on my passion and dream - a full-time job with a basis in my Catholic faith.