Monasticism

For a while now I have been intrigued by monastic traditions. I find their traditions very beautiful and comforting. My favorite is Benedictine monasticism. I have visited with the nuns at St. Benedict's in St. Joseph, MN. Every time I go it is a new and wonderful experience. I learn new things each time.

So it is with that in mind that I bought a couple of rosaries. They are truly beautiful works of art. I have had them for a while now and have finally decided that I wanted to learn how to pray the rosary. I have spent most of my morning looking up how to go about doing this. I have finally finished.

I just spent about an hour in prayer, part of that praying the rosary and part of it praying the Divine Hours. It was an unusual experience for me. I found myself going into a very meditative state. I could feel it. I also felt very connected with the Holy Spirit. The time I spent during this prayer time was about God and not about any of my needs. I am looking forward to doing this again this evening before dinner and before bed. I also need to find a time to pray for the needs of others and for my own needs. I figure that maybe while I am spending time with God that he will honor the requests that I do know about and do not say out loud. Prayer is about communing with God, right? By this communing we develop a deeper love for him and a deeper relationship with him. I am excited about this prospect.

Day 2

Wow, can you say bored?? I am stuck on the upper level of my house standing guard over my daughter's bedroom door. She told me that she was sick today and refused to go to school. I tried to force her, but I could not budge her. So the best thing that I can do is to force her to stay in her room today which means that I am stuck up here too. Oh well, I am going to try to make the best of it.

I have to work on knitting the pink shawl. I get 2 rows done on it yesterday and I think that it might be easier than I thought to finish it. It does not seem like that hard of a pattern and it is great yarn to work with. I will post a picture of it later today since I will obviously have the time.

Yesterday I spent some time putting up my profile on facebook. It was an interesting task. I can see how one could spend a lot of time there and not even realize it. I did not realize how many people that I know are on the site! Wow, I feel kind of out of the loop.

I also went to church and saw A and J. I gave them their Christmas presents and caught up with them a little. Being so sick has isolated me a lot and I need to get back into the community that I love. We were able to pray for J. She is off the Maryland this weekend to train for her trip to India. She is going to India on a mission trip. We were planning on going together but my funding fell through and I was not sure how my health would hold up. I am so excited for her! She is going to teach some women how to knit while she is there!! What a great adventure while also talking and teaching them about Christ and the Christian walk. When I think of it that way I wonder if there could ever be a better mission trip to go on than that one!!

Brand New Blog

I decided that I needed to start a new blog for the new year! My old blog seemed so depressing and I have decided that I need to be more upbeat. This is a time of new beginnings. I am so glad that we are able to start fresh each year.

Actually, God gives a clean slate to start fresh from every day, isn't that amazing?? I am praying that this new year will draw me closer to God, my family, and my friends. I also want this to be a year that I can try to learn from the past and not be controlled by it. I want to be able to look back there and see the good that has come from my trials and tribulations.

See, this is going to be a big year for me and it is my sincere prayer that it is a big year for everyone that I hold dear.