Quiet...

Even when the room is filled with the voices of my children, music in the background, and the clicking of the computer keys, there is a certain sense of QUIET here.  There will be leftovers for dinner, complete with dessert.  And the laundry will still be there tomorrow to be folded.  So, I am taking the day off, and just hanging out.  There are books to be read, playdoh to mold, songs to sing.......  I am at peace.  Happy Christmas.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

In this very busy season, so many are blinded by the dazzling lights and extravagant displays of materialism and drawn away from the true meaning of Christmas.  At this time of year, there is a greater need for prayer than some might realize.  Today, I offer this prayer, in an effort to keep the focus on the reason for the season...

God bless people everywhere in this holy season.

Help them to keep Christ central in their hearts and minds,

And to turn their thoughts to Jesus whenever temptations of the material world accost them.

Open the hearts of all people to the message of hope and the saving grace Jesus provides.

Guide those who need to experience His presence more fully to a complete conversion,

So that they might focus on Him and follow Him, to become the people You mean for them to be.

Grant peace and joy to all those who seek Jesus, as well as to all those who need Him but do not know it.

Amen.

"Thank you for contacting Heaven's Tech Support! This is Jesus; how may I help you?"

http://cartoonsphotofy.com/picture/116557/

So, a couple of days ago, my computer got sick.  It was some kind of cold or something.  I am not sure from whence it came; but it was a nasty little virus, for sure.  Thankfully, a renowned computer doctor--my husband--made a house call and treated the computer immediately.  Until he cleaned up the virus, all I could envision was me on hold with tech support for hours, without getting any real help/answers, followed by me disconnecting the computer to send it out to be fixed and receiving a hefty bill for the service--all while my son languished (however happily) without computer access for homeschooling!  My husband said he had no idea how the computer was cured; he said it was a miracle...

But what is a miracle?  A noun, miracle is defined as 1. an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause; 2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of god [sic]; 3. a wonder; marvel. (1)  Okay.  So, as great a troubleshooter as he is, my husband is right:  the removal of the virus from my computer and fact that I am able to type this blog entry today IS a miracle--albeit only in the sense of the third definition here.

But what constitutes a miracle in the sense of the first two definitions?  Many people have used the word at one time or another to describe something they have witnessed or wished.  But real, true miracles are such anomalies, so separate from those of us not directly affected, that it is difficult to really understand what a miracle is, what a miracle FEELS like.

I have been a direct witness to what my family believes is a miracle.  When my father visited me several years ago, he developed a large growth in his neck, seemingly overnight.  Upon his return home, he saw a doctor who discovered that it was a cancerous tumor that had been growing for some time; and things looked extremely bleak.  Luckily, it turns out there were some folks in Heaven watching out for him...

Bernadette Soubirous

My father's visit had included a pilgrimage to Lourdes.  Lourdes is one of the most regularly visited pilgrimage sites for Roman Catholics.  It is a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains of southwestern France, famous for the 18 apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes that occurred in 1858 to a poor young girl named Bernadette Soubirous (now a saint).  It is further famous for the healings that have resulted in those who have bathed in or drunk from the natural spring water that emmanates from the grotto where St. Bernadette experienced those Marian apparitions (2).  My father had taken home with him some of this holy water.  As a result of daily blessings with the holy water of Lourdes, my father was restored to health!  The great care and treatment he received from his truly extraordinary doctors was wholly guided by the hand of God, in part due to the intercession of Mary and St. Bernadette!

My family is blessed to have witnessed such a great miracle.  Anyone might bear witness to miracles such as these, through faith.  Faithful prayer is our direct line to Heaven.  It is good to know that between Mary, Jesus, and the holy Saints, we will always have the very best customer service representatives when we call Heaven's Tech Support!

Citations

"miracle." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 09 Dec. 2010. <Dictionary.com

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/miracle>.

Wikipedia contributors. "Lourdes." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Dec. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2010.

Tweeting for God...

Take pride in God, and He will take pride in you!
Take care of God, and He will take care of you!
Keep God as your first priority in life, and He will keep you as His first priority!
I will try to remember this today.
I may have to write it down on sticky notes and post them all over the house.
This is important stuff.

(If I was a member of the Twitter-verse, today I would say--ahem--tweet these things!)