7 Quick Takes

1 - "Don't pick up a pooping cat!" After the emergency load of laundry and all the scraping, the washing, and the smelling, this is the bit of wisdom my 5 year old daughter took from her recent decision that the cat must play with her RIGHT NOW, even though it looked a little busy at the moment.

2 - I started my 7 Quick Takes with the above story because I feel exactly like someone who has picked up a pooping cat. I broke or sprained a rib this week and can't move or breathe without being tempted to wax scatological.

3 - Speaking of, I have a story to share that I think of every time I am in pain and it never fails to make me smile. Our old Parish Priest had a prison ministry. He often admonished us to follow the example of the imprisoned men who daily struggled to live Godly lives in adverse circumstances. One of the things he worked on with them was the habit of profanity, since he was an ex-Navy man and he struggled with this himself. He had made such inroads in this area that one honor farm inmate, upon having his foot stomped on by a horse had called out, "Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to suffer!" instead of the usual jailhouse fare. Father shared that story with everyone. Some time later, he was opening a window in the rectory and it came down and broke his hand. He got to the prison later that week and was telling the story of his bandaged and gruesome looking hand. The men asked him what he had said, hoping for similar inspiring words. "Well," said Father, "It certainly wasn't 'Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to suffer!'"

4 - Speaking of priests, I heard an excellent homily today. He was commenting on divisiveness and split loyalties. He gave us the image of the torn temple veil. "We tend to focus on the torn sides of the veil, of the fact that the veil is no longer together instead of what is revealed behind the division--The Holy of Holies, God, Himself." Because the hydrocodone is kicking in, I am unable to recreate his words well. Just the basic idea that God is there when all else is swept away including our attachment to broken things, even ones that appear whole.

5 - I had to buy coats to get us through until our house is ready. The kids have tons of coats, but that box was packed in the middle of the heatwave and the chaos of suddenly finding a buyer for the Ugly Yellow Trailer. It's buried and unlabeled, like almost all of my belongings at the moment. Who knew that a month later we would still be in temporary housing, but needing coats and jackets after such a long and miserably hot summer. Thank you, God, that even endless droughts can be broken.

6 - We have purchased our first antique! Well it's only the first if you are not counting the house. We got a working and restored O'Keefe Merrit stove for about what a new stove would cost. Here's a picture of one that looks like ours but belongs to someone else who is selling theirs and has better access to a camera than we do at the moment.

7 - Feeling rather antique myself at the moment, I will sign off. Have a happy weekend everyone!

 

Thanks to Jennifer Fulwiler, a fellow Texan, for hosting

7 Quick Takes Friday 

over at Conversion Diary.com