Friday, October 12, 2012

Marine Nurseries, Financial Planning and the Year of Faith

@ 28 weeks
A bit of a mixed kettle of fish this morning but it's a bit of a reflection of my mind, these days!

As of this past weekend, when Kevin and I walk down the hall headed toward our room, our heads automatically turn to the left to take in the nursery's new underwater-shade-of-marine or, as I was more hoping to capture, the deep enfolding blue of Our Lady of Guadalupe's mantle. It was my first time painting without "adult supervision" ( I still feel like that kid, feet dangling off of my dresser, watching my father meticulously roll some shade of pink or another flower pastel onto our childhood room walls). I can now say I've done it and I'm ready for the next painting challenge!

Here I am at 28-weeks to tell you that not only is baby brain a real phenomenon (I've triple booked myself more times this week than I'd care to mention) but that pregnancy is such an immense blessing in my life.  I know I'm making myself a cyber-bullying target by saying this but: I'm actually enjoying it! My mom said she never felt happier and/or more beautiful than when she was pregnant and I think I'm taking a page from her book.

I've been thinking about the Privilege of Being a Woman and about how our sex was chosen out of the two to cradle and sustain life within our bodies and I can only summarize the immensity of emotion and awe with a pregnancy tear-welling session and, on a good day, maybe even with a chortle. Seriously, I can't look at a newborn as I did before at least not through un-crying eyes. I am sitting here, thinking about what to make for dinner and about the writing I've been putting off, meanwhile, my body is making a baby.

All of this "making our house a home" business has me thinking seriously about stewardship, as well. I'm acutely aware of how blessed we are to have a warm home, food in our fridge and money in the bank. And with that, I've started to think about how we can manage our money in order to make it do the most good for the most people. Kevin has always been all about scrimping and saving (to a pretty radical degree, actually; it used to be a real access point for my teasing) but I see now that it frees him to give his money generously to those in need. When we decide to do without, we are allowing others to have things (comforts) they couldn't otherwise have. It is more of a reward for us, I'm sure, than it is for these people. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to give (thank you, The Wealthy Barber, he he!) I know that this is what our parents did for us and I am so happy to be learning this lesson young.

Finally (for the purposes of this post), I've been struck by Pope Benedict's proclaiming this year as the Year of Faith. It perfectly coincides with the 50th anniversary of the massively influential Second Vatican Council and its timing could not be better. We are at a real crossroads right now and though I am not part of the school that believes society has "never been worse off", I do believe that we are at a crucial time in the life of the Church where all of us are being asked to be sincere, clear and convicted in our beliefs. Such times have come and gone before now and such times will come again.We need to be so convinced of the Truths of our Faith that we are willing to be ridiculed and perhaps dismissed by popular thought. The clincher is this: waves of thought and intellectual fads have come and gone. But the Church, the Rock of Peter, has been here for over 2000 years. We're not going anywhere so, we can either give way to the popular opinion of the day and essentially join the empires that have inevitably fallen before us, or we can assert the Truths we have come to know and stand bravely in the face of change, unwavering in our Faith. I look forward to the gifts that are to come. The Holy Spirit is with us in every age and I'm not about to take this one laying down.

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