LOVEE! Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to other writers and to coordinate this. To the other contributors who are perhaps reading the comments, THANK YOU!
Favourite lines
The God who gave it all for me is asking me to give it all to Him,
Change still happens. Growth still happens. But it is so slow and incremental. Almost imperceptible at times. And that is frustrating. He is gentle with me. He is compassionate. He knows me, and knows I don’t need harshness.
I appreciate the reminder that He is always there—the questions is just how often and for how long I rest in His presence and listen to His word.
I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun
I use Susannah Conway's "Unravel your year" and am hoping for a Catholic to come out with a similar reflection tool. In the meantime, this reflection question is a great way to start. I need a little more time to reflect on this question but I will share what I learned this Advent. These past 4 weeks I lead a virtual small group through Blessed is She's "Peace Has a Name." I put it out on my private and public socials and made it a drop-in (no hard commitment, come as you are) style. I was reluctant to doing it at all with the thoughts of "No one is going to come. People on your socials will think you're silly" etc.
Every week, about 4 women- each week a varied group, some repeats, some new, showed up. We had a wonderful chat about the readings, discussed our Advent commitment, did lectio on one of the passages and shared our prayer intentions. It was wonderful. I am grateful for the prompting of the Holy Spirit. My lesson learned was "each person matters to God"
Now, this might seem silly or a "Duh" to some people. But I really struggled in this area. My thought was, "Well that doesn't work in the real world. No one is going to sell a product that one person buys or perform a concert to one person in the seat." However, leading the sessions week after week, connecting with these wonderful women, they mattered to me. I cared deeply about them and prayed for them between sessions. All of a sudden my desire for this to be 'big' in numbers transformed into a prayer about meaningful connection, community, and collaboration each week. Each person that showed up to Advent Small Group did matter. I understood the parable of the lost sheep with fresh eyes. I am grateful for a God that's not into sales (big numbers, end of year quota) but rather into saving souls one heart at a time.
Thank you, Claire, for sharing your insights and the insights of so many other writers! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!
To sum it up, 2022 has been a year of slow recovery and rediscovery.
I've had some bad experiences with different types of ultraconservative American Catholicism that have caused some awful spiritual and emotional traumas. God and his saints (and some unexpected older brothers and sisters in Christ) are helping me to acknowledge and feel the hurt without giving into hate and sinful wrath, and helping me to forgive without excusing or denying real hurt. That's not easy, but it is slightly easier if I remember that it's OK to heal slowly because some things can't be rushed and because God doesn't demand instant perfection (remembering all that isn't easy either, especially in the midst of pain, but I try).
I've also rediscovered several saints whose stories resonate with me, including St. Thomas More, St. Thomas Beckett, St. Hildegard Von Bingen, and St. Helena. That partly came about through a rediscovery of literature, poetry and other cultural arts, which I've always enjoyed but which I had all but cast aside in the last few years after several unpleasant experiences in ostensibly Catholic and literary circles. Those circles used literature in a heavy-handed, joyless, and ideological way as polemic culture war weapons instead of seeking to enjoy, understand, and learn from great works of literature and art from around the world and from different time periods (those circles also had both implicit and explicit biases against anything that was too "modern" or "popular," and with a handful of exceptions, they had biases against anything that wasn't "western" or part of "the western canon." I want to enjoy and learn from literature and art from all places and times, including but not limited to the past in "the west," however that's defined).
In short, God has been helping me heal and showing me several joyful and positive ways and places where I can use and develop my interests and talents. He gave me those interests and talents, and he's giving me opportunities to use them too.
I began my journey with Dallas Jenkins' The Chosen in 2022. Had heard about the show and it was recommended to me numerous times, but I thought, "I know this story AND the spoiler alert ending." Well, God knew exactly what I needed and when Jesus responded to Simon Peter "get used to different" as Simon challenged Jesus about inviting Matthew to join the group. I've been described to others as someone who not only marches to the beat of a different drummer but is in a completely separate band. So, yeah, different should be my middle name. I used to think my difference was at a minimum "less than" and at worse "bad." Through God and now The Chosen, I'm leaning into my badass difference.
I'm a conservative living in an over the top liberal city. It's seriously a challenge to live in the midst of violence and lawlessness where inanimate objects are blamed for death and destruction instead of the people choosing to use them. However, I LOVE that we're a sanctuary city and don't mind the bus loads of migrants coming through the border states. I'm also a volunteer in a local council of a national youth organization that is predominantly male and has recently opened all of its programs to female membership. I love the rich history of the organization and believe its vision and mission. However, I'm the local face of the females and families who are looking for membership and serve as one of the few if not the only conservative member on the organization's committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
"Different" is my new word. "Get used to different" is my new mantra. God wants a different world and he's looking for the people who embrace "different" to champion the movement.
I second the resolution to read more poetry. I've enjoyed reading poetry throughout this year, and I want to read even more poetry in 2023.
LOVEE! Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to other writers and to coordinate this. To the other contributors who are perhaps reading the comments, THANK YOU!
Favourite lines
The God who gave it all for me is asking me to give it all to Him,
Change still happens. Growth still happens. But it is so slow and incremental. Almost imperceptible at times. And that is frustrating. He is gentle with me. He is compassionate. He knows me, and knows I don’t need harshness.
I appreciate the reminder that He is always there—the questions is just how often and for how long I rest in His presence and listen to His word.
I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun
I am His and He is mine.
he never grows weary of loving me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I use Susannah Conway's "Unravel your year" and am hoping for a Catholic to come out with a similar reflection tool. In the meantime, this reflection question is a great way to start. I need a little more time to reflect on this question but I will share what I learned this Advent. These past 4 weeks I lead a virtual small group through Blessed is She's "Peace Has a Name." I put it out on my private and public socials and made it a drop-in (no hard commitment, come as you are) style. I was reluctant to doing it at all with the thoughts of "No one is going to come. People on your socials will think you're silly" etc.
Every week, about 4 women- each week a varied group, some repeats, some new, showed up. We had a wonderful chat about the readings, discussed our Advent commitment, did lectio on one of the passages and shared our prayer intentions. It was wonderful. I am grateful for the prompting of the Holy Spirit. My lesson learned was "each person matters to God"
Now, this might seem silly or a "Duh" to some people. But I really struggled in this area. My thought was, "Well that doesn't work in the real world. No one is going to sell a product that one person buys or perform a concert to one person in the seat." However, leading the sessions week after week, connecting with these wonderful women, they mattered to me. I cared deeply about them and prayed for them between sessions. All of a sudden my desire for this to be 'big' in numbers transformed into a prayer about meaningful connection, community, and collaboration each week. Each person that showed up to Advent Small Group did matter. I understood the parable of the lost sheep with fresh eyes. I am grateful for a God that's not into sales (big numbers, end of year quota) but rather into saving souls one heart at a time.
Thank you, Claire, for sharing your insights and the insights of so many other writers! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!
To sum it up, 2022 has been a year of slow recovery and rediscovery.
I've had some bad experiences with different types of ultraconservative American Catholicism that have caused some awful spiritual and emotional traumas. God and his saints (and some unexpected older brothers and sisters in Christ) are helping me to acknowledge and feel the hurt without giving into hate and sinful wrath, and helping me to forgive without excusing or denying real hurt. That's not easy, but it is slightly easier if I remember that it's OK to heal slowly because some things can't be rushed and because God doesn't demand instant perfection (remembering all that isn't easy either, especially in the midst of pain, but I try).
I've also rediscovered several saints whose stories resonate with me, including St. Thomas More, St. Thomas Beckett, St. Hildegard Von Bingen, and St. Helena. That partly came about through a rediscovery of literature, poetry and other cultural arts, which I've always enjoyed but which I had all but cast aside in the last few years after several unpleasant experiences in ostensibly Catholic and literary circles. Those circles used literature in a heavy-handed, joyless, and ideological way as polemic culture war weapons instead of seeking to enjoy, understand, and learn from great works of literature and art from around the world and from different time periods (those circles also had both implicit and explicit biases against anything that was too "modern" or "popular," and with a handful of exceptions, they had biases against anything that wasn't "western" or part of "the western canon." I want to enjoy and learn from literature and art from all places and times, including but not limited to the past in "the west," however that's defined).
In short, God has been helping me heal and showing me several joyful and positive ways and places where I can use and develop my interests and talents. He gave me those interests and talents, and he's giving me opportunities to use them too.
I began my journey with Dallas Jenkins' The Chosen in 2022. Had heard about the show and it was recommended to me numerous times, but I thought, "I know this story AND the spoiler alert ending." Well, God knew exactly what I needed and when Jesus responded to Simon Peter "get used to different" as Simon challenged Jesus about inviting Matthew to join the group. I've been described to others as someone who not only marches to the beat of a different drummer but is in a completely separate band. So, yeah, different should be my middle name. I used to think my difference was at a minimum "less than" and at worse "bad." Through God and now The Chosen, I'm leaning into my badass difference.
I'm a conservative living in an over the top liberal city. It's seriously a challenge to live in the midst of violence and lawlessness where inanimate objects are blamed for death and destruction instead of the people choosing to use them. However, I LOVE that we're a sanctuary city and don't mind the bus loads of migrants coming through the border states. I'm also a volunteer in a local council of a national youth organization that is predominantly male and has recently opened all of its programs to female membership. I love the rich history of the organization and believe its vision and mission. However, I'm the local face of the females and families who are looking for membership and serve as one of the few if not the only conservative member on the organization's committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
"Different" is my new word. "Get used to different" is my new mantra. God wants a different world and he's looking for the people who embrace "different" to champion the movement.