need something uplifting

Some troubles on my heart have left me searching for something uplifting today.  I need to be reminded of all of the wonder and goodness that comes from this life.  Sometimes I feel like life is just full of suffering.  But if this life on Earth is only for suffering, why would God make promises in His Word of a long life?  Who wants to have a long life of suffering?  


There is so much beauty and goodness in this life despite the struggles.  I just get my "blinders" on when I get down and only focus on the suffering.  I have to find the balance that reminds me of all of the wonderful things.

“Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don't agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ” 

― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

Ahhh.  C.S. Lewis always has something to make me feel better.  

I am learning more about the redemption in suffering.  Before a few years ago, I never understood that our suffering could allow us to join in the Passion of Christ.  Paul says in Colossians 1:24 

"It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church"

And James 1:2-4

"My brothers, consider it a great joy when trials of many kinds come upon you, for you well know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, and perseverance must complete its work so that you will become fully developed, complete, not deficient in any way."

I needed something to give me hope to continue to fight the good fight.  Good will come from the suffering.  I will continue on.  I will pick some flowers and tickle my kids.  And there I will find the goodness in life fresh anew.

Thanks be to God.

kristy

Chesterton and me

I am loving Chesterton quotes!  G. K. Chesterton seems like a no nonsense guy, but that's just my first impression of him.  I love the way he plainly states the obvious.  


I have started reading my first Chesterton book on my Kindle.  It's called Orthodoxy.  Why Orthodoxy?  Because it was free on Amazon at Christmastime when I got my Kindle!  I wasn't sure where to start with Chesterton, and starting with a free book sounded right up my isle.  


I have to admit I have a newfound love of reading.  Unfortunately I did not enjoy reading growing up.  So I am not sure if that explains the difficulty I am having with Orthodoxy.  I love the book, and I love reading Chesterton.  But this first Chesterton book of mine seems to be a bit...rambling.  I am in the middle of the book and it seems like it is just starting to make sense and get good.  I can only read through about ten pages at a time, and I go back and re-read passages to help them sink in.


I ran across a wonderful quote from Chesterton today (not from the book I am reading, but from Fallible Blogma): “The difficulty of explaining ‘why I am a Catholic’ is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true.” – G. K. Chesterton


Yep, love it!  It sums up why my mouth is left hanging open and speechless when I get the question, "Why the Catholic Church?"  


peace be with you today!


kristy

the stakes are officially high

"Your bid--for God or no God, for a good God or the Cosmic Sadist, for eternal life or nonentity--will not be serious if nothing much is staked on it. And you will never discover how serious it was until the stakes are raised horribly high."

--C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed 

Um.  Excuse me.  I am pondering these words.  This one got me in the gut.

Kristy

My first favorite quote from Pope Benedict XVI

"It is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free. Cardinal Newman realized this, and he left us an outstanding example of faithfulness to revealed truth by following that 'kindly light' wherever it led him, even at considerable personal cost. Great writers and communicators of his stature and integrity are needed in the Church today, and it is my hope that devotion to him will inspire many to follow in his footsteps.”


— Pope Benedict XVI’s address to the Bishops of England and Wales Visit “ad limina apostolorum,” January, 2010

The first sentence is the best!  I saw this posted on Patrick Madrid.  As someone returning to the fullness of the faith, I've often overlooked quotes from Pope Benedict.  This one's good, and I am so thankful I ran across it!  It keeps all of those debates floating out there in proper perspective for me!

Kristy