Sunday, April 18, 2010

Springtime

Well.

After further thought about matters,

though I had told Margaret that Cleo would begin blogging,

I have realized that Cleo blogging would not fit this blog.

So allow me to just say a few kind words about her.

I am so grateful that I have Cleo to take care of.

One of my dear friends sent me an email with words from

Matushka Juliana Schmemann's new book "The Joy to Serve"

which talks about Motherhood and spiritual Motherhood.

I know it is, as Mat. J. Schmemann writes, true that I too

have a desire to be a Mother...

Now, no worries, I know I am not a spiritual Mother to my cat.

Cleo does not have a soul like a human.

But I am still responsible for her.

And it is such a joy.

Even when she wakes me in the middle of the night (and believe me she does weekly)

or throws up cat-hair balls because I have not brushed her enough (oops)

or decides that midnight is a great time to play

catch me if you can,

while she races around my small apartment with her quick four feet,

I am so glad I have her.

Children of my own I do not know if I will ever have.

This is hard but I seek to trust God in this.

But I love having Cleo as my responsibility and she is a delight to me everyday.

She is the cuddly type and purrs loudly when held.

She is at my feet whenever dairy is around

and she also believes she loves chicken and peanut butter.

The latter two she never gets.

And if I open a can of tuna, well, I can only ask her forgiveness for not giving her some!

No mercury poison for her!

But I find that I can write about her but not for her.

But trust me, she is a princess, knows it and is also the best cat friend

I could of ever asked for.

She knows my routine better than I and

often tells me when to get off the computer

or when to go to bed by either meowing

or standing by the bedroom door.

She often sits quietly while I seek to pray

and I believe she is a gift from God to me.

I will posts some other pictures of her sometime

and thank Margret for including Cleo in the animals that she loves!

My final exam for Beginner II is tomorrow!

Then not one but

two weeks

off before my next class.

Wow. Even though I technically had many weeks off while being unemployed

and wondering what to do

these two weeks seem like the first two weeks off in a long time!

Lots to do...

taxes (praying for a good tax refund!)

cleaning (my living room floor has Cleo-hair dust bunnies!)

practicing French

and many other good things.

Spring always feels like a time for new beginnings.
I am really excited about my
declared war on anxiety and ask God's protection while I work on this!
To realize again that with God I can scale even this wall
is really quite wonderful.
I am getting a novel about St. Spyridon in the mail,
hopefully this week,
along with an Akathist to him.
in which she talks about how men especially love Orthodoxy
because it gives them something to do and to go towards
and that women get this too, but men sometimes first.
Well while I can not fully relate to this,
as for me Orthodoxy was something I dove into fairly quickly,
but the reason I can relate to!
I think this is why I am excited about seeking to overcome
anxiety because it is something with God that I can do.
***
Are you excited about anything right now?
Or has it been a while for you for this sense of excitement about the future?
I know that for me I do not always feel this way
and am astounded that I do right now.
***
Life is really hard.
I have heard of an old classmate of mine coming down with cancer
for the third time.
He is a husband, a father of 3 or 4 kids
and is not doing well.
God had healed him twice.
This is really devastating.
And the stories go on around us again and again.
***
The only real answer to this is Christ's Resurrection.
***
Singing Christ is Risen to those dead in the graves
on cemetery day
or sing Christ is Risen in church during the 40 days of brightness
when hearing of a friend's hospitalization,
is where our hope comes from.
***
Christ is Risen!!

2 comments:

GretchenJoanna said...

I see Cleo staring at the monitor, and think she would be a blogger like me, staring for a long time and taking forever to express all her thoughts and doings in the best way. It would surely take too much time away from her other activities, like playing chase in the night. But whatever she might have contributed will not be lost. She can commune with herself, and perhaps with her Creator.

elizabeth said...

Yes... she sure loves chase in the night! LOL.. she is a great cat!