The Order of the Common Life #ocl postulancy began this week and the week prior I began to meet with Westminster staff to discuss chapters of the book “God In My Everything.” We’re getting started by noticing our existing habits and where the Father may be inviting a change.
Skyler demonstrated his #BulletJournal approach to tracking his #RuleOfLife and, inspired, I started a #bujo yesterday. I’m excited to have a system to integrate what I’m learning and doing.
I’m struggling with feelings of incompetence and humiliation. Nearly two months of wrestling on this tedious and demotivating work project and I couldn’t figure out even the basics of what was affecting my capacity to be productive. Twenty minutes explaining myself to one of my colleagues and a difficult conversation with my manager and now my struggle is much more clear. I feel like an incompetent fool and humiliated that, after years of counseling and training I’m still this blind to myself and have grown so little in my awareness of the times I need to seek out help from others. Mercy. 😞
Meditating today on some of the injustices which MLK Jr sought to overthrow, I’ve felt ashamed that my whole life hasn’t been swallowed up in the fight as I feel it ought to be for the cause of #justice. In prayer to the Lord I’ve been comforted by the certainty that the Lord’s justice will neither sleep nor be silent. He shall surely judge the nations and their rulers, and not only if I pray and fight hard enough. He will satisfy our hunger for #righteousness.
I’ve begun to slowly add a few rhythms in January as a precursor for the start of the postulancy. Exercise and journaling to be exact.
I realized while talking to Ben Tennant, my spiritual director, that I don’t always have a clear reason why I want to integrate more practices into my daily habits. I mean, I know the right answers but sometimes I can neither remember them nor feel that they are my true motive. I wonder if that sometimes derails me…
Two days I’ve had lunchtime commitments: #SpiritualDirection and lunch with a friend. In both cases I’ve noticed that the exercise and #meditation that would be slotted into this time gets dropped when it’s replaced. Even if I have some room, I don’t fill it in with these #habits. I’m learning that, even after I’ve established a rhythm it’s so tied to a time and place that deviation upsets it. That’s okay, there’s tomorrow. Interesting to notice.
Royal has been attending a ninja class for a few months. His awards ceremony was on the 14h of December. The instructor said that he hasn’t spoken a word to her all this time, but he always has a smile on his face. Look at our shy guy!
My office had become a dumping ground for all the odds-and-ends that float around our home. Yesterday I cleared it out. I’m hoping that decluttering my environment will reduce my stress.
In one corner I have my work desk with the printer on a side table. Beside it is a rectangular space for exercise with 5lb dumbbells and a yoga mat. In the opposite corner I’ve placed another desk for hobbies and paper filing with a bookshelf next to it. I’d like to hang some art on the walls too; I started with a family picture.
This year Amie convinced me to get a smaller Christmas tree, but the process was equally fun (and less back-breaking).
The boys were so excited to decorate the tree that we had it completely decorated the next day.
We rode the 1880 Christmas train again this year. The boy’s stamina has grown in a year so they did not become nearly so squirrely as the ride progressed.
This year the boys answered Santa’s question, “And what would you like for Christmas?” with the same answer - lightsabers and dragons.
On Christmas Eve we joined Westminster’s nativity skit. The boys were silent but I think they loved wearing the panther and lion outfits.
That evening we went out to Japanese stirfry. The boys had a blast watching the chef prepare their food.
Christmas was another wonderful, exciting and exhausting day. Well, more like week.
On Christmas morning we opened Christmas stockings with my grandparents.
We left my grandparents to rest and prepare for the afternoon shrimp boil and drove over to Grandpa’s house for brunch and gifts.
Then it was back to the house to prepare for the shrimp boil (or as Royal calls them, “shimp”. Amie’s mom was sick and couldn’t be there to help in the morning, or attend the party 😢, so there was a lot to accomplish in a short time.
This year Dan and Judy were able to make it, and we invited our friend Andrew from Westgate. Turns out he grew up with Amie’s cousin Elizabeth!
Amie discovered a YouTube channel with party games and replicated one for us to play. Prizes line the sides, hidden in boxes, and you roll an ornament down the center and choose the nearest box to where the ornament stops.
Amie made a hot cocoa sensory bin for the kids. Graham and Royal went around delivering hot cocoa to all the guests.
With so much happening on Christmas day, we opened more of our presents on the day after. And again a few days later after Amie’s mom recovered.
Finally, Graham and Royal went to Target to spend their Christmas money on a robotic dinosaur and snake.
We’ve managed the twelve days of Christmas in our household again this year. Amie found a candelabra that’ll fit the whole set. We light another candle for each day and sing a Christmas hymn. She made candied crandberries and pitzels.
I’m grateful that Amie and I spent a little time last night talking about goals for 2024. We have a few categories that guide our thoughts. Here are some potentials for the list: