It may not sound like much after all the talk of the Powerball billion, but I bet if I handed you $20, you would still say, “Thank you very much!” The comedian in the video below has a heartening approach to the value built into 20 bucks that just might make your day.
(Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about this comedian, just this one video!)
I used to live in a strange town called Waldorf. The first time I ever went to Waldorf was to eat lunch with new colleagues from the parish where I was about to start working. Carol directed me to the restaurant by telling me to drive south into Waldorf, then turn left on “Mattawoman-Beantown Road." Cheryl mentioned a helpful landmark: “You’ll see a giant paint can on the left side of the road right before your left turn. The giant paint can is how we mark things in Waldorf – everything is either before or after the paint can.”
I found the whole thing very strange. Waldorf was always like that for me, though I did become quite accustomed to saying “Mattawoman-Beantown” and giving directions by orienting everything around a very large paint can that was perched on top of a strip mall.
After slugging through seven or eight years of purgatorial Waldorfian living, my sister-in-law’s Swiss boyfriend informed me that Waldorf means “wooded village” in German. It sounded so lovely! If only!
But I shouldn’t complain. Waldorf had its charms. And one of them was a little non-denominational church situated on Waldorf’s main thoroughfare, nestled into one of Waldorf’s most nondescript strip malls. It was called the “God Is In Control Church.”
Now that is a great name for a church. Sure, we Catholics have very fine church names: Holy Infant, Our Lady Help of Christians, Prince of Peace, The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Wonderful saints, devotions and mysteries. But I think Waldorf may have one-upped us this time. Every time I drove past that little storefront church, I felt great about life. I might have been living in a strange town, surrounded by suburbia, yearning for a wooded village. But God was in control. God was in control. And that was enough.
Yes, the members of that little church had done something right. Just by choosing a name and hanging up a sign, they were evangelizing me. The “God Is In Control Church” made me happy. It made me feel safe. It made me want to nod my head and shout “Amen!”
Plus, it was almost as much fun to say as “Mattawoman-Beantown.”
I can't believe I found a picture of the actual paint can in Waldorf, MD! You can click on the image to go to a website where you will see pictures of many, many giant paint cans found throughout the U.S. Who knew? P.S. My husband enjoyed Waldorf very much.
Last week I gave a retreat for high school sophomores. It was a very new experience for me! As I was preparing, a friend of mine recommended a short video that she thought the teens would find meaningful. She herself had been touched by it as an adult. I was more than open to suggestions, so I watched the video.
I loved it. The sophomores loved it. And I think you will, too.
As I told the high school students, you may not have the same problems as the girl in the video, but you will recognize her struggle. You will understand her searching and straying, the forces at work in her life, and the power of a savior who never leaves our side.
I recommend that you watch when you have 5 minutes of quiet time by yourself.
I recently heard a speaker quote Oswald Chambers:
“Get into the habit of saying, ‘Speak, Lord,’ and life will become a romance.”
I was struck by the idea, and I tried to put it into practice. Changing a diaper, sitting in traffic, watching the news, working – I said, “Speak, Lord.” It was a simple thing to do, a simple way to invite God in, to allow him to speak to me when otherwise I would have just been listening to myself. I became more aware of his presence.
But what did Oswald Chambers mean by “romance”?
When we love someone – especially if we are in love with them – we want to be with them. We want to share everything with them. This is a natural and relatable human experience. As it turns out, we are with God all the time, but we rarely call out to him. We rarely seek the God who is hiding in plain sight in our world, in our day, in each moment. We are with the one we love, but we don’t realize it. We aren’t listening for the quiet voice of the beloved.
Jesus described this pervasive divine presence in his own way: “The Kingdom of God is among you” (Lk. 17:21). Indeed, the presence, the reign, the kingdom of God grows, like a mustard seed, from something very small into a wonderful, shady bush where birds can land and rest (Lk. 13:18-19). It grows this way in our lives, too – as we become more aware of how close he is, how much he loves us, how much there is to share. The harsh world outside can feel more like a shady bush if we are living in it with the one we love.
Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Speak, Lord!
In preparation for an upcoming talk on aging as a time of spiritual grace, I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes we undergo as we age. I wrote this litany for the program, and I wanted to share it here.
Whether we are growing old or just growing older, the transitions and challenges we face can be painful. But as in all kinds of change, in nature and in life, through pain and transition, we can become something new. In our surrenders, we find the new life we have longed for.
Like Christ on the mountain, we are transfigured as we age. We are changed from within and without. Outwardly we age; inwardly we can be illuminated. Like the Transfigured Christ, we can shine like the sun!
So pray with me: “Transfigure me, Lord!” Click on the file below to view or print the litany.
Mosaic of the Face of the Transfigured Christ, Church of the Transfiguration, Orleans, Massachusetts