Laughter

Have you ever laughed, that full on, joy filled belly laugh while in prayer. I am currently giggling because of where I was when this happened, in the back pew of the Church. For several weeks prior to the first Spiritual Direction formation weekend the words for a five minute presentation on a Scripture bounced between my brain and heart as I attempted to get it right.

This particular morning the giggling started when, as I worked on writing I was struck by three or four year old St. Therese “choosing all” of the doll clothes her sister desired to share with her rather than the one or two pieces offered. Here I am choosing all three pieces of Scripture for this five minute “getting to know you talk” because like a certain brand of potato chips you can never have just one. (Aside I focused on two and here it comes. . . )

In Luke we first hear the conversation between Jesus and Martha. It’s so easy to hear Jesus scolding her for her worries and yet, looking deeper, spending a little more time with it, there’s something more going on here. It’s not until John we see the fullness of this conversation and that Martha has indeed chosen the better part. So much so that she proclaims, from this intimate relationship with him, “that I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the chosen one of God.” This is often missed because Lazarus is raised from the dead. Okay that’s cool and amazing and I suspect my chin would be thoroughly bruised from hitting the ground in awe of this event.

As the back pew pondering continued on that morning the desire to include Philippians 4, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” because like Therese I have this childlike desire to choose all! This passage from Ephesians was one of the readings on this particular morning. And afterall this is what I’m pondering. While this particular bit didn’t make it into the actual five minute I was happy with what I shared including how God flipped the Script on me to reveal more of His heart, that the very thing I seek is the very thing that Martha yearned for and that she responded to, intimacy with Jesus.

As I heard the reading from Ephesians that morning I started giggling with delight. In the moment of this reading, even though due to time constraints I ended up not including the reading this was a moment of sheer joy and while I sat in the pew giggling and trying hard not to make a sound because we were in the middle of Mass this was so fun.

I’ve mentioned on/off over the last period of time that quilting has been a bit of a challenge. There are places in my sewing studio that need a bit of a revamp and that’s happening. As I get to these places, looking at what I have there is a great desire to redo some of my class samples. There is a need to record some quilting for something and there’s more reading to do.

Finally today, Happy New Year. The First Sunday of Advent is upon us. I’m not sure what we’re doing for Advent reading and the wreath and candles are still in the attic. While this feels unusual at this moment it’s not so much. Each year is slightly different. While we are still two in our home, we are changed and changing.

God bless,

Teri