Putting off our Thanksgiving dinner has not gotten us anywhere. We are no more ready for it today than we were last week with the exception of extending our mindful thankful feelings.
What a mess we are in!
We are thankful for the mess. It means we have too much stuff. Do we throw it away or give it away or put it away? I'd like to find a big box and dump it all in there and worry about it next week. Of course, it will stay in there forever, as we will have no more time next week than we do now to pull it all out again and deal with it. I read in a magazine in the doctor's office, while we were there with Sister Mary Fiacre, this helpful advice for when you are expecting guests: put stuff in the washer and the dryer. The guests never look in there. Point taken.
The house is unbelievable dusty and full of cobwebs.
We are thankful we have a house. Moreover, the reason the house is so dusty is because the dryer vent is broken.
We are thankful we have a dryer. The hose has come loose from the back of the dryer and there are holes in it, so every time we run the dryer, which is a lot because we are fond of inviting other people to do their laundry here while they go out and do the important work they have to do instead of standing around at the laundromat, the house fills with steam and lint. The dryer is in the kitchen, so the kitchen is especially linty.
I have tried to fix the dryer situation more than once.
Thankfully, I found this website: Dryer Lint.
I'm thankful I'm physically able to pull the dryer away from the wall, and wiggle it around somehow in the tiny space it occupies, clean out the mess that is always behind and around it and the two feet of lint and get the hose back on there and shove it back against the wall.
I'm thankful I have my cleaning habit and my everyday habit to wear to roll around in the lint.
I'll admit that I'm not thankful that by the time I wiggle the dryer back into it's tiny space the hose has fallen back off again. I've tried tape and those clamp things they sell just for that purpose but the thing you attach the hose to back there is so short the slightest movement knocks the hose back off.
We're thankful that when the house fills with steam we don't have to turn on the heater.
We're thankful that one of our two heaters works.
We're thankful to have blankets since the heater that doesn't work is in the back of the house in the hallway near the bedrooms. I could go the St. Theresa the Little Flower route and sleep with no blanket in the winter and a heavy blanket in the summer. I have considered it. But too many people rely me not having pneumonia to risk it. We had quite a time caring for Sister Mary Fiacre when I broke my toe.
We're thankful to still have Sister Mary Fiacre around. We thought she was going to go on us several times this year. We were mistaken. Twice we thought she was dead only to be reminded that she is a sound sleeper. A very sound sleeper, bless her heart.
That's not to say that taking care of her isn't a pain in the neck. There are things we have to do for her that we'd rather not have to do. I think it's important to mention that, because when people see us joyfully caring for her they think we are somehow immune to what a pain in the neck it is. They imagine that we can handle things they could never handle themselves. Not true. You can do things that are a pain in the neck and be joyful about it too.
Which reminds me of this question! I hope I'm not yammering on too long.
if you read the bible,u will notice that Jesus was sad and prayed alot to be saved from the hour of his murder ...for example,"27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour." john 12:27
if Jesus was sent to be sacrificed, then do not you think Jesus must have a party in that hour instead of crying and praying to be saved?
I imagine there is some deep theological answer to this found in the pages of St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas. But to me, it isn't rocket science. Jesus was both fully divine and fully human. So even though He knew that He would rise from the dead after the whole ordeal, He wasn't looking forward to the ordeal. His human side said, "Is there some way around this? Let's not and say We did? No? Alright, then."
I don't think throwing a crucifixion party is appropriate. As for the resurrection, we've been having a party every since.
8 comments:
Sister,
It does my heart good to hear you referring to some of your tasks related to the care of Sr. Mary Fiacre as "a pain in the neck." I care for my two elderly parents, both wheelchair bound and both incontinent. I worry constantly about my attitude about dealing with my "pain in the neck" tasks because I think I shouldn't think of them as such a pain in the neck. I care for them because I love them and because I want to keep the fourth commandment but, I sometimes think I might just be in trouble, not with the letter of the law but, with the spirit of it. Know what I mean? I have this notion in my head that I ought to be rejoicing in the less appealing chores but, I'm not. I feel like I'm cheating when I offer it up. Does this make any sense?
Oh Sister,
I forgot about the lint. You know, you have to be very careful about lint. It's very flammable. I've heard stories about dryers catching on fire because of lint. It might be a good idea to get one of the visiting laundry people to help you out and replace the holey tubing and find a better way to secure your connection for you.
Faithful,
I know just what you mean because I feel the same way caring for my handicapped daughter. I love her dearly but sometimes I get tired of some of her care. Most often it's just what I do because it needs to be done. Sometimes though, I grumble interiorly through it. Rejoice in it? Oh no, I have a long way to go there. I rejoice in God's goodness in giving her to me. I rejoice she's such a sweet girl. I often groan through some of her care and like you I feel bad about that alot.
Well now I feel lousy as my husband is driving me nuts because he has a cold. I thought I was doing pretty good warming up a can of chicken noodle soup. Will I ever learn?
Anon. Once when my husband was home with a cold he followed me around all day critizing how I run the household (and school the children, etc.) I'd have been mad only it was so comical.
I have the same lint/dryer hose problem. My husband finally was able to get it fixed, so I second the motion by faithful catholic up above. Once we took the hose off because the dryer wasn't working and it happened to be full of toys. Some child was standing outside the house shoving toys down the other end.
Hey Sister - Get that dryer vent fixed right away! - it is a source of carbon dioxide.
Monica,
"Some child was standing outside the house shoving toys down the other end."
That cracked me up! Of course a child would see that vent cover outside and think, "hey, great place to put my 'fill in the blank.' Let's see if it fits." I remember learning about the big blue mailbox on the corner of the next block. As soon as I was big enough to reach the handle on the pull door, I made a point of leaving little presents for the mailman. I'd leave him pretty rocks, my brothers' army men, little baggies full of cookies, anything I was willing to part with. I couldn't read yet and didn't know it was a "Federal Offense." One day my mother caught me and threatened that I'd soon find my picture hanging in the Post Office if I didn't cut it out.
On dryers: Our vent cover keeps getting stolen. Why exactly is unclear, and we're not talking the cheapie ones that only attach by an inch or so. Beloved Husband has installed one that reached a foot into the wall and it disappeared, too.
On Christ's suffering: If I may compare it to childbirth... The begetting the child was not unpleasant, she says discreetly. Carrying the child has been as easy as one could expect, with 30 extra pounds around the middle. The birth itself I'm not looking forward to. But the "payoff" of having another child to watch grow and learn is worth a little while of suffering.
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