The Prayer of Saint Ephrem (Adapted)

O Lord and Master of my Life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother for Thou art holy unto ages of ages.   Forgive me a sinner!  A blessed Great Lent to all…

Ignore the Splinter!

“How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Brother, Sister, let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you don’t see the log in your own eye? You deceive yourselves! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye.” – Luke 6:42 (Common English Bible Translation)   I find a tricky area of…

Encouraging Questioning

“Why did God let Adam and Eve eat the apple?” “Mama, what is love? How do I know if I love everyone?”  “Why does God let me throw up? Does God think this is for my good?” Phew! Being a mama to curious children is tricky. I don’t know about you, but I really sometimes wish that they would just accept that that is the way it is! Sometimes when I hear…

Soothing Fears

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. – Luke 12:32 I must confess that I have struggled with worries and fears my whole life. You know who you are if you can relate. I absolutely recognize this as a deficit in faith and also know that I am imperfect and that as long as I struggle against my fallen nature and cry out…

Forgiveness Anyways

Two nights ago I held a large celebration at my home for a milestone birthday for my mother. It was a truly joyous event. God granted us health and good-weather and lavished us with good food, music and company. Many of my mothers friends came from out of town to celebrate, including one of my mother’s oldest and dearest friends who has a loving but turbulent relationship. Perhaps she had a bit…

Slow Down

We move too quickly. We are always seemingly in a rush. Have you noticed? Especially with children – who can take exasperatingly long to do the few things they need to do to get out of the door.* So sometimes we are not even in a rush but we are rushing our children. Perhaps this doesn’t apply to you, or you think it doesn’t, but perhaps it does. Pay attention. We are…

Traditions

As I started writing this post I was just on a plane home from our yearly summer vacation in the Midwest. Lake swimming. Paddling. Turtling and familiar hikes – all some of the wonderful traditions that my kids participate in yearly just as their father did and their grandmother and great grandmother before them. Traditions handed down from generation to generation. Priceless. Today’s society is so anti tradition. So concerned about rectifying…

Summertime Vigilance

Summer is officially here. We spent a beautiful first week of summer break – lazing around reading-aloud on a picnic blanket in the sun, building complicated tunnel and bridge creations in the sand box and a lovely road trip to visit one of my oldest and closest Orthodox friends and her children. Letting down first from the rigor of Lent and then from the business of the school year is a beautiful…

Our Peace Brings Peace

Christ is Risen! I don’t know about you, but after a busy Lenten season and a full and glorious Holy Week and Paschal celebration settling back into “old” rhythms somehow feels a bit empty. In our home we aim to celebrate the 40 days of Pascha and anticipate the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost, but I slightly overscheduled us this year for the weeks after Pascha and I am spent. This also…

A Practice – Starting with Prayer of the Heart

We spent the third week of Great and Holy Lent (when I started to write this post!) contemplating the life and legacy of St. Gregory of Palamas and the beauty and simplicity of the Jesus prayer. How can we bring such a profound and yet simple practice to our children? Our children, for the most part, are so on the go – from the moment their eyes pop open in the morning…