In book three of The Chronicles of Narnia, the classic fantasy series written by C.S. Lewis, we have one of the best spiritual allegories of Divine Providence offered by our Christian tradition. In “The Horse and His Boy”
Not the Destination...
Marriage is a journey, not a destination...
All the laundry was folded, the kitchen was clean (enough for me), and there was nothing left for me to work on. Tara was watching Christmas movies, the kids were entertaining themselves, and I wasn’t sure what to do next.
Fear: (noun) a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined.
Anxiety: (noun) distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.
Are you serious God? Why? Why now? Why have you chosen me? Have you ever had these conversations with God in prayer? So many times, in my spiritual life I have had these conversations with God. Often, I feel as though God asks way more of me than I think possible. I know I am not alone, and God asks the unimaginable from all of His faithful followers. Today, I thought I would muse on my last conversation that went something like this!
Ordinary Time. It’s a deceptively boring label for the liturgical season we now find ourselves in. It’s not “special” like Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter. There are no special, beloved Ordinary Time songs or decorations. No unique Ordinary Time traditions. It’s just ordinary, plain. It’s just like most of my life and yours. We “live and move and have our being” in the ordinary time of our lives, punctuated by special events like birthdays, marriages & anniversaries, job changes, and moving.
We had been married for about a year and a half when we traveled to my in-laws for the holidays. We were staying in a hotel room with our 6 month-old son, who was just starting to become mobile. While we were getting ready to leave, my husband put Timothy on the bed, even though I told him not to leave him there unattended.
In July, 1999, John Kennedy Jr., his wife, and sister-in-law, perished when the plane he was piloting plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. The investigation of the crash concluded that Kennedy had suffered from spatial disorientation when fog combined with low lighting made visual flight difficult.
