12 February 2015

No Soapbox Today

Hey. What's up? I hope you're all doing well. I realized I haven't gotten off my soapbox in quite some time, so I thought that (even though I can't think of anything to talk about) I'd write something soapboxless today. So here's what's going on in my life, in no particular order:

1) I'm leading Bible study for the young adult ministry. I'm so uncomfortable with leading any Bible study that smacks of a) personal revelation and/or b) Biblical exegesis. I resist the first because why would people care about my personal feelings regarding a Scripture verse and the second because I have no educational foundation or authority to interpret Scripture in a non-personal way. But I'm probably growing as a person because of the forced "out of my comfort zone" activity. :)

That said, I'm so excited for Lent to start (never thought you'd hear a Catholic say that, did you?) since our Bible study meetings will not be comprised of Scripture interpretation directly, but on The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. It's so great that all Truth is one in God. Truth, wherever it is found, has its source in God. I'm so grateful for that. Because if I were left with just the Scriptures... well, I would need more grace than I'm currently allowed. ;)

2) I learned in a very tangible way that one should always fully understand not only the assignment given, but the expectations regarding said assignment. Confirmation retreat is coming up. All I'm going to say about this is palancas are great, but I wish I had known they didn't have to be all-time-consuming projects. That's not the expectation and "above and beyond" has involved at least 50 hours of labor. I want to say 100 hours, but that means I'd have spent an hour on each one and that seems like an exaggeration. So I'll leave it at 50.

3) I get so excited when something on my Etsy shop sells. So excited. It's like Christmas every time! So... you should take a look and support my budding business endeavors... :)

4) I'm beginning to lose patience with non-committal individuals. Like the ones who give vague responses to questions, invitations, or suggestions and you're like "WHAT DO YOU WANT???" and you really have to make an effort not to shake them. One of these days, it may happen. (not the committing part. the bridget shaking a person part.)

5) I love babies. So much. And I love men who can hold a baby without looking terrified or like they're going to break said baby. Just throwing that out there.

6) I discovered that I have no idea how to cook for two people. None. I brought some friends dinner after the arrival of their first baby and I brought so much food. I'm looking at the enormous salad, two big chicken breasts, 12 pizza muffins, and chocolate cake and thinking to myself "ooops!" Thank goodness for refrigerators and freezers so extra food isn't wasted, but can be kept for a pretty long time before rotting or getting yucky.

7) Criminal Minds is my new favorite show. I know some of you might be shocked and horrified by that show, but it really doesn't bother me. Mum pointed out the probable cause of my nonchalance is  that I don't trust anyone as it is, so to see human beings doing terrible things to other human beings doesn't surprise me. Which is true. There's not much of a nauseating shock factor for me. I haven't seen all of the various forms that violence and abusive behavior can take, but my response is usually, "yeah, I could see that..." not "oh my gosh there are people like that????" hashtag I have trust issues...

8) I love St. Valentine's Day. It's one of the few days of the year that I can tell all of my friends that I love them and it isn't (quite so) creepy. I love people and I love loving them. It's the best.

I just want to note that I find it funny (like hilarious) that the most celebrated saint day of the year (globally, not just in the Church, because then we'd have to go with one of the Marian feast days) is a feast day on the old Roman calendar. You know that thing that happened in the sixties? Big meeting, lotsa bishops? Yeah, Vatican II. They not only changed the Mass rite in some significant ways, but they also changed a good number of feast days. Including the feast of St. Valentine. February 14th is the feast of St. Valentine on the old calendar, but the new Roman calendar, which is what is ordinarily used (the extraordinary Form of the Mass uses the extraordinary calendar) in the Roman Catholic Church, commemorates the Sts. Cyril and Methodius on February 14th. We don't even have a specific date on which we commemorate St. Valentine on the new calendar.

Does that last paragraph make sense? I hope so. Because I hate when I find something funny, but I can't manage to explain it in a way that makes sense so the hilarity gets lost in a massive amount of confusion.

Alrighty, going to sign off now. Time for palancas... :)