Prayer, Segment 2: Change My Water Into Wine

Also, a prayer at the CVN training, this song hit home. Matt Aujero, a fellow CVN trainee and the writer of this song, explained that when he wrote it, "I was trying to be my own miracle, rather than letting God." Wow. I'm bad at letting God make miracles in my life on His time, and I hate when I seem to discern His plan but then things go awry. So it was a solid reminder that God always takes what we are doing and makes it something more. He makes it something good and holy and pleasing, which I simply cannot do on my own.

“Turn My Water Into Wine”
By Matt Aujero and Anthony Rennekamp

When I’m broken, may you heal the shattered fragments.
When I’m shaken, I ask you to calm my nerves.
When I’m impatient, may I trust you with my heart.
Cuz I try so hard, but I can only go so far.

Refrain:
Let You, Lord, turn my water into wine
(2x w/ echo)

At Cana, they listened to Your Mother
As she said, "Do whatever He tells you."
I lack the same faith, for I choose my will over Yours
May I realize only You can make me more

Take my hand
And what I have
It's hardly anything
Please transform me (Repeat)

And in the end
I just ask You

Prayer, Segment 1: Your Life Is a Sacred Journey

I am going to start a new section of the blog : sharing my favorite prayers. Sometimes they will come with stories, sometimes without. Here is the first one, prayed with a finger labyrinth. It came from the CVN training weekend.

"Your life is a sacred journey.

And it is about change, growth,

continuously expanding

your vision of what is possible,

stretching your soul,

learning to see clearly and deeply,

listening to your intuition, taking courageous risks

and embracing challenges at every step along the way.

You are on the path, exactly where you are

meant to be right now.

And from here, you can only go forward,

shaping your life story into a magnificent tale

of triumph, of healing, of courage,

beauty, wisdom, power, dignity, and love."

Caroline Joy Adams

Hello, Again!

My hiatus is over, and I am returning to the world of blogging! I have a lot of catching up to do; to speed up the process here are some quick updates:

1) I am doing recruiting work for the Catholic Volunteer Network, CVN. They help people find service opportunities, like my VSC year. Check them out here. I did training with them in DC for a weekend, during which I met some awesome people and decided to be excited about grad school again.

2) I want to give a shout out to Ana, Julia, Wendy, and Emily as well as my mother and her sister, who have been awesome support for me over the past two weeks. I've always known the women in my life were amazing, but this just made it hit home all the more. Most, if not all, of you ladies read this blog: thanks! <3

3) Lots and lots of testing. I'm ready to be a student in the classroom again, but I am not thrilled about having to study again.

4) The Great Move to Ohio happens soon. Virginia is protesting with all her might, in the form of a 5.9 earthquake. Sorry, my dearly beloved state, but have no fear: our separation is not forever!

Hiatus

During the ups and downs of the move from the 'burg to NoVA, I considered taking a break from blogging. I promised myself, when I started this blog, that it would not be an emotional crutch for me. Instead, I just cut back posts, assuming things would settle once I moved home. Now, I am finding my life more emotionally turbulent than it has been in a while. In honor of removing the temptation to vomit emotion all over my loyal readers, I am taking an official hiatus from the blog for at least two weeks. I will be in touch again, loyal readers, when I am in Ohio and officially a full-time student once more!

Day-Maker #40

This afternoon I noticed, in a window across the room from me, that it was raining. When I glanced to the window closer to me, there was no rain! I stepped outside, where I discovered that my house was right on the rain line : on the west side of the house, we had a summer shower; on the east side, the world was dry.

Homecoming

My brief stay in NoVA is already 1/3 of the way over. Since I lack both gainful employment and formal school-time, I have dedicated a good deal of time to seeing people. As I bop from place to place, I am discovering the sure signs of homecoming:

1) Talk of politics. My homecoming coincided with a beautiful example of Washington politics at their most agreeable. In addition to the glory of the debt deal, Republican candidates for the 2012 election are starting to pop up. These events keep me entertained as friends and family keep analyzing and offering opinions on them.

2) Highways. In NoVA, we gossip about our highways the way stereotypical small towns gossip about people. And with the new construction of HOT lanes on the beltway, I-495 provides endless conversation, and we are constantly looking for detours and other routes.

3) Fresh tomatoes. Nothing says summer at home like garden-ripe tomatoes pulled from the backyard to color a salad, or be eaten on their own. I tend to forget what real tomatoes taste like until I eat one from my father's garden.

4) Mosquitoes that eat me. Part and parcel with the garden, unfortunately. The only place on earth where mosquitoes genuinely like me is in the backyard garden, when I am picking those tomatoes that I love.

5) Starbucks. In general, I avoid chain coffee shops and try to find local places to satisfy the love of coffee shops I discovered with Ana in St. Louis. However, we have essentially no local places in my neck of the woods, and Starbucks provided a home for my particular subset of the high school youth group. I'm still friends with those two lovely ladies and whenever two or three of us are gathered, it happens at Starbucks.

6) Decaf tea. For some reason, I don't buy a lot of it on my own. But when I'm at home, I drink it like there's no tomorrow.

7) Friends and family. Really, it's people who make home. And while I'm missing a few specific individuals like mad, I have a blessed gathering of awesome people close to me!

Day-Maker #39

Video-chat makes my life happy. It is awesome to be able to see faces far away.