(from one of the blogsI read - one of the many, tho the numbers are dwindling!)

Pastoral issue here, Gals.

Personal experience tells us that older folks often think the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Everything is getting worse. Kids are horrible. Food doesn't taste as it did. Violence reigns...
Not all older people are sour about the future but many are. Like the ladies at the bridge table yesterday who asked,"do you know anything good?" I started naming good things like sweet parenting I observed, lovely cool weather, people being kind to each other. No matter what I offered the ladies retorted with negative words.
I took a deep breath then said, "I hear people over 40 often think the world is going to hell in a hand basket." No one smiled.
I suppose I'd be crabby about the future too if I depended on Fox news for my worldview, picked friends who were fearful and negative, read the mailers from the insurance industry about health care and looked at my stock portfolio everyday.
Yep, the world is in trouble. This is not new. Every generation sees the world as a troubled place.
Can we bring the theological idea of grace to the table?
In the midst of a confusing world, grace offers acceptance, welcome and a view of the kindness of God to each of us. Grace allows us to savor the blessings, cope with the difficulties and remember what is important.

Love from St.C.


Ovrer and Out

....I read a great (ANOTHER GREAT!) book.

Here are a few of the lines, I wrote down to keep: "The heat never did seem to bother Me;;e ;ole ot dod tje rest opf (oops, sorry-mcm!) .....Nelle like it did the rest of us. She was always cool and slow, like she and store's old ceiling fan were on the same speed."

"Yes, dahlink," I said, imitating the old movies, "once you have graduated from the "Calla & Sukey Kissing Academy,' your lips are the only badge you need!" (Maybe you don't need to know that girls teach girls how to kiss before boys do!)

"Just holler if you need anything," Sonny Boy said. And I went to sleep knowing that I lived in a house full of people who would care for me, no matter what."

"Remember that none of us is alone in our grief," Father Gerard said. "All of us, every one of us, is held by God - whatever we think God to be. Whatever Holy Force we might conceive of holding us together is here with us now and will be with us forever.. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, go in peace now, to love and serve the Lord and to bless our brother and our son, Sweet Chalon. And we thank the Lord for his gracing us with Sweet's presence on this earth."

"The Moon Lady was revealing herself to me, and she sent a thought into my mind. I will not give you unnecessary grief. That was her gift. That was M'Dear's promise, that suffering would happen in my life, but that even when things seemed their darkest, the suffering would have some kind of meaning."

"And again M'Dear's voice filled my mind. "Look closely now," she said, "and wait. These are the two most important things I can tell you now. Look closely and wait."

Very good book - made me wish I had grown up in Louisiana!

Over and out (pleased)