Saturday, January 17, 2015

Thanks, Mary!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus calls sinners.

A dear friend posted a picture in facebook this morning of a woman putting wash on the line of a windy day... asking if some of us had memories of this.  It opened the floodgates for me!  My first memories of my love affair with Jesus is singing to him under the clothes line on our building site in the countryside of Grand Blanc, Michigan - a suburb of Flint- when I was probably around 5 or so.  I felt the same pure excitement for HIM then as I do now with each day filled with the Sacraments, Mary, The Saints, The Word, the sacramentals -  my rosary filling my day with Prayer - Mary bringing me, sick and sinful, to her Son, my Jesus with His Bride, The Church! 
Nancy putting clothes on the line - pregnant and with her 1 1/2 year old playing in the hanging clothes on one of her visits here this past May!  I love clothesline pictures!  They are the best!  They are the epitome of meditation in the fresh air we are allowed as busy moms.  The little ones run back and forth and we have some time to contemplate how blessed we are to see those joyful faces.  This seems fitting to be sharing this day devoted to St Anthony, who heard the reading where Jesus tells the rich young man to sell everything, give it to the poor and follow him.  St Anthony did just that!  He was the first monk living in the desert in solitude for many years.  My trips out to the clothesline on every fit day over the years was a bit of that solitude in the midst of my life... either with or without kids it was a moment of peace and ability to contemplate his creation and the blessings I have received through HIM!
Enjoying the weather, the green grass, the sharing of the little ones!
 
As I was driving through the fog last night, I had Refuge radio on filling me with The Truth of Faith!  This song came on and it was so much for John, whom I had just spent the day with going down the familiar road to Rochester together.  Good news on our 5 year anniversary of hearing that for the first time just before his stem cell transplant!  We are now to go only once a year for MRI and meet with his two wonderful doctors!  Talk in the car about his future which still remains as the fog - unclear as to the direction, although he seems to be getting the same message - The Church and working with youth.  Disorriented in the midst of thick fog - this song spoke volumes!
Brandon Heath - Wait and see - He's not finished with me yet!
 Mary and Jesus... the BEST!
 Finding blankets on the clothesline - so precious!  I had Ruth stand and suck her thumb with her blanket wrapped around her head like bunny ears!
 "I think I will sit here until it's dry."
 Bunny ears, a dog and bright clothes, a sunny smile from Maria on a beautiful day - poetry!!!!
 Now grandpa's work jeans - does Roger have bunny ears on his back?  
 Add kittens and a blond haired girl years back - this is Ruth's clothesline.   I am filled with Joy and wonder that the LIFE Ruth and Paul have made for their family just 3 miles from us has been recognized by the nation! 
Winning the national award for Excellence in Agrictulture winner!!!  They do so much for promoting Ag, their Faith/Farm/Family is outstanding!
See the wind!!!!
 
Jesus, looking out at the warmth of this day making the snow melt... the fog has long blown away with the dawn.  It brings the eternal hope of spring after the winter.  May we always find YOU in the midst of our busy lives even in the moments of "work" - hauling that heavy basket of wet clothes up out of the basement and out to the clothesline... then we can set it down and take each piece and pin it in the wind.  Breathing in the freshness of the sunny air and contemplating how wonderful is your world/universe/our farm/our family/our Faith/our Church/praying for the needs on our hearts this day/reviewing our faults and sins and weaknesses/looking to the Physician who loves and forgives us unconditionally!  Jesus, we trust in YOU.  Amen and Hallelujah
 Nothing better than a clothesline tent made out of sheets!

Bless-bless, Barbara Luke

My wonderful Venerable Thomas A'Kempis!!!  He was huge in my early Catholic desert nun years!
Rose in the garden of LIFE!
The Afters - Broken Hallelujah
 
 

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