Revolution of Love

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Never Despairing and Being a Balm to the Soul

The other night I wasn’t feeling well and I was awake at 3 AM dealing with a stomach bug. As I rested in bed in the wee hours of the night, unable to sleep, my mind kept thinking about the message I received that evening.

A number of people we know have been dealing with big crosses – serious health issues, miscarriage, job loss, marital problems – but when we found out that our friends Teresa and Nathan lost their four month old baby boy, who died in his sleep, I was shocked. This cannot be. I re-read the message thinking I got it wrong but before my eyes blurred with tears, I saw that it was true.

I had no words. I wanted to help ease their pain but there’s wasn’t much I could do at 3 in morning so I grabbed my rosary and started to pray. I knew they had a they had a strong faith in God but this would test them like nothing else ever has.

As I prayed for them, my mind went to this Scripture:

“But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

I finally drifted off to sleep but that Scripture stayed with me the following day.

Well, imagine my surprise when I realized that not only was that Scripture in today’s reading, but I also happened to write today’s Blessed Is She devotion (a month ago) about this Scripture and it echoed the very thoughts I was having. I wrote in part:

“To someone outside the faith, this [trusting in God] must look ridiculous. When they [Christians] are put into situations that should cause them despair, they have hope. The First Reading speaks of this beautifully. . .  Of course, it is easy to say that these words are beautiful and poetic when things are going well in life, but when you are in the thick of a storm, the last thing you want to do is feel hopeful.

However, this is where all our talk of faith, hope and trust are put to the test. When everything is falling apart, and we’re dealing with an array of mixed emotions—from anger to anguish—that’s when we need to throw ourselves into the Father’s arms and rely on His grace to pull us through. . . ” 

(Read the rest of the devotion over at Blessed Is She.)

Praying for Teresa and Nathan during our family rosary.

I went on to speak about how the physical and spiritual support we give to those carrying a heavy cross can be “a balm to the soul.”

I think God is trying to drive that point home to me because I just read Nathan and Teresa’s latest update.  They thanked the people who helped pay for Timmy’s funeral and who offered physical, emotional and spiritual support to them. They say in part:

“Words cannot express our gratitude. I have tried over and over again to find some way to say how much your gifts mean to us, but I just can’t. Beyond caring for us in a material way, the show of love has been a balm for our aching souls.”

Please remember Teresa and Nathan, especially tomorrow (Wed) when they will bury their baby boy. Lift them up in your prayers and help them get through this unimaginably sorrowful time.

Then look around your own life. Is there someone who is struggling? Is there a way you can reach out and help? Let the Spirit move you. Or perhaps, you are carrying a heavy cross yourself. Feel free to leave a comment below or message me on Facebook or Instagram with your prayer intention. I will pray for you this week that God will give you strength, peace, healing and resolution.

In the love of Christ,

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

 


February Fun: Letter Writing, Love Notes (& Free Printable) and Prayers to the Holy Family

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February is here and in my mind, I can’t help but think of it as a month of Love, when I especially show other people that I care about them, whether it is my husband, child, a friend or a stranger in need of an act of kindness. There are a few things I like to do to share that love. Here are some of them.

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Letter Writing

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Ever since I was a kid, I loved writing letters and having pen pals. I would collect stationary and stickers and well, fast forward a couple decades and not much had changed.I still love stationary and collecting stickers.

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That’s right! There are sticker clubs for adults! Just check out Pipsticks. When you sign up, you can get an envelope of stickers to decorate your planner, bullet journal, note cards or use them as treats for your kids. It’ll make your inner 10 year old squeal . 🙂

Although I love technology and always have my iPhone on me, I still love to write a love note to Brian or slip a note of encouragement to one of my kids or send a note in the mail to a friend. It may be a kindness to them but it is also beneficial to me because I love the sound and feel on pen scratching paper. It is a balm to my soul.  🙂

So imagine my excitement last year when I found out that February is the International Correspondence Writing Month (known as InCoWriMo.) Participants take this pledge:

“I, [insert your name], clearly see the benefits of InCoWriMo participation, not only to me personally, but also to those who will receive my correspondence. InCoWriMo is a beneficial endeavor and worthy of my full attention. I hereby pledge to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February.”

 

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It was so much fun last year! Although, I have to admit that more often than not I was writing notes every three days and mailing them at once BUT I still sent out 29 notes (thanks, leap year) in February. I am joining again this year and made my bullet journal spread to mark the letters I write. If you want to know more about #InCoWriMo, visit the main site or Kara’s great round up of info. If you want to know more about writing letters in general, check out my previous post – The Joy of Letter Writing: 5 Favorite Things about Snail Mail.

Love Notes

For those who aren’t up to writing 28 pieces of mail, maybe this idea would work better.RevolutionofLove.com - love_notes_1

A couple years back when Brian came home after his cancer surgery, I really wanted to let him know all the little things I loved about him. So I made a list of 14 things I loved about him, then I made little love notes I could fill out and leave for him the 14 days before Valentines. I would leave them on his night stand, on his laptop, taped to the bathroom mirror. It was a little something to remind him each day of why I loved him. The idea went so well, I repeated it every year but instead of 14, I do the six days leading up to Valentines Day.

If you really want to kick things up a notch, you could pair these love notes with acts of kindness. For some inspiration read my previous post – 25 Acts of Kindness for Your Husband.RevolutionofLove.com - love_notes_2

I also wanted to do something similar for my kids so I made a different version to let them know what I love about them.

If you’d like to do the same, you can find the love notes printable for the hearts here and for the mama and baby owl here.

God Is Love

Lastly, because God is the source of all love, as a family we try to live that love out in our faith and in our prayer life. In the evening, when we sit down to eat dinner, we say grace, which includes each of us saying a prayer intention. That is followed by a litany of our family saints. (St, Joseph, St. Anne, St. Isabella, St. Andrew, St. John-Paul, St. Matthew, our baby saints Victor and Joseph, St. Michael for our military and policemen, St. Florian for our fire fighters, St. John Vianny for priests and religious, St. Gerard for pregnant moms, St. Peregrine for those fighting cancer, and St. Junipero Serra for our petitions.) Lastly, we end with an invocation that matches the Church’s monthly dedication.

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Photo credit: churchpop.com

January was the month of the Holy Name of Jesus so our invocation was – “Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

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Since February is the month of the Holy Family, we now say a simple – “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we love you.”

It’s a small way that we foster a love of God and our faith. In doing so, it helps us to have the right attitude in sharing that love with others around us, especially since we are six non-perfect humans living together as a family. We need all the help to be loving than we can get! 😉

What are ways you like to show the people in your life that you care about them?

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope or Katch (past Periscopes), GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

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31 Days of Gratitude (Day 7): Feast of the Rosary

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It’s Day 7 of the #write31days challenge. My topic is 31 Days of Gratitude. You can see my previous Gratitude posts here.

Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.

Now for today’s post…

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Today the church celebrates the feast of the holy rosary. It’s a beautiful feast day but I wasn’t always a fan of the rosary. Oh, sure I’d hang one in my car as the cultural Catholic thing to do but I’ve had a love/dislike relationship with the rosary. It wasn’t so much the theological understanding that troubled me. Frankly, it was the fact that sometimes praying it was a little boring. Why the need to keep saying the same thing over and over again?

However, after a difficult break-up and period away from God in my early twenties, Mary was very influential is helping me turn back to her Son. As I grew older, there was a definite draw towards the rosary.

It’s not always easy for me to quiet my easily distracted mind but somehow, closing my eyes and saying the repetitive but calming words of the Hail Mary has helped me to slow down and meditate on the life of Jesus. It gives me peace, as well as the opportunity to pray for my family, friends and the world at large.

There are times when I’ll pray only a couple of decades, such as when I am driving about town. Other times I will pray the whole rosary such as when I take a morning walk or when I meet weekly with school parents to pray the rosary together. Sure, I admit there are mornings when I am so cranky and stressed with getting the kids off to school on time that the last thing I want to do is pray a rosary. However, Brian usually reminds me that this is when I need it the most. And dang it, as much as I may not want to admit it, he’s right. It does calm me down and turns my heart back to God.

So today, for the gift of the rosary and for a heavenly Mother who is always pointing me to her Son, I am truly thankful. 🙂

Want to know more? Here are a few resources:

  • If the rosary is something you aren’t familiar with, you can read about the history of it here.
  • If you want to know how to pray the rosary, this PDF – How to Recite the Rosary from New Advent is really helpful.
  • If you want to read how we started praying a nightly decade of the rosary as a family, read this post – A Sacred Space for Family Prayer.
  • 8×10 prints of the Mysteries of the Rosary are available for purchase at EWTN.
  • Want to listen to the rosary in the car or while you are working around the house? There a number of apps available. The Laudate app has a many Catholic resources, including various versions of the rosary. Personally, I use the Rosary Audio by Gaussuan Knights. (If you have another rosary app suggestion, please leave it in the comments.)

I hope these help. 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

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31 Days of Gratitude (Day 5): An Unexpected Gift & Lesson in Prayer

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It’s Day 5 of the #write31days challenge. My topic is 31 Days of Gratitude. You can see my previous Gratitude posts here.

Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.

Now for today’s post…

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Yesterday I talked about my prayer journal and how the beauty of its design is pleasing to the eye and makes me more inclined to use it. Like my planners, I’m not a big fan of plain black and white. I like some color and cheer to be added to it. That preference plays a part in this little story.

As you may recall, a couple of weeks ago I attended the Blessed Is She Team Retreat in Wisconsin. We received some lovely gifts and one was a print from HatchPrintsShop.etsy.com. Katrina does beautiful hand lettering. To give you an idea, this is the print I will be ordering from her next.

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Photo Credit – HatchPrintShop

So as I was sitting there with the others and all the ladies were opening their envelopes and pulling out similar gorgeous prints with flowers and lovely colors. I was eager to see what mine looked like! I wanted to know what inspirational quote the Holy Spirit was going to give me for the weekend.

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Photo Credit – HatchPrintShop

I opened my envelope and pulled out a pretty but decidedly simple print. There were no flowers and no quote, just a simple JMJ for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I thought, “Huh. That wasn’t what I was expecting. Oh, well.” I didn’t have much time to think about it since our next talk was about the start so I put it away.

Later, when I was in a small group discussion, we were talking about prayer in our personal life. I was quietly thinking about it when suddenly my mind turned to the print I received. Our Lord (interiorly) spoke to my heart  saying, “Do you know why you received that print? Because you need to get back to the basics. Sometimes you get so caught up in the distractions that you lose the essence of prayer. You need to get back to Me and you.  Just be with Me.” Whoa.

Later that night, we were led into a quiet meditation by Beth and (in my mind’s eye) Jesus pulled me into his arms and we spoke like we haven’t spoken in awhile. I understood what He meant by me needing to have time with Him alone and nothing else. It moved me to tears because prayer is not easy for me.

p_lobos_4_15_a I remember a priest once explaining that sometimes we treat our prayer life like mountain climbing. When we go mountain climbing we research the activity, we buy hiking clothes and equipment and do all this prep work but eventually we’ve got to stop talking and preparing for it and just start climbing.

I’ll often fall into that trap. It is easier for me to talk about prayer, write about it, and find tools that will help me to pray but eventually I need to just shut up, get on my knees and be with Jesus. It’s a process and each day God gives me the opportunity to let go a little of my “Martha” and embrace more of my “Mary.” I’ll be working on it until the day I die but Our Lord is always there to teach me and call me back to Him.

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So although, the JMJ print I received would not have been my first choice, now I love it. I hung it up in the kitchen by the counter where I make dinner. Now whenever I see it, I remember Jesus’ words to my heart, “Just be with Me.” And for that, I am truly thankful.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

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Join the Project Blessed Prayer Pledge

PROJECT BLESSED PRAYER PLEDGE

Happy New Year!! I was hoping to make a post yesterday but the day was devoted to family time but I hope you had a wonderful day.

I just wanted to pop in to make sure you know about the Blessed Is She Project Blessed Prayer Pledge. We want to start off the year right and what better way than to be united as a sisterhood praying for the next 31 days to our heavenly Father. There is no set prayer style so you can do whatever works best for you. There is no set age group or marital status – so whether you are single, a mom of young ones, a mom of teens or a grandma, we want you to join us!

The main thing is to pledge to set a side a little time each day to recollect and turn your heart to God and to pray for the other women signed up. Thar’s it.

Don’t worry if you’re late joining. I literally just signed the pledge now because I forgot to do it earlier. (See what happens when my planner also takes a holiday! It’s time to get back to business.) 😉

To sign up, make a pledge to join us here.

To jump right into today’s prayer prompt, click here.

I look forward to spending this time of prayer with you. xoxo

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope or Katch (past Periscopes), GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉