Grateful and Happy

Life has been full of good, rich, happy things, to the extent that I hardly seem to have a moment to write about them.

I am on high activity mode right now. Plenty often all I want to do is stay home, but lately I have been itching to be going and doing. Normally my children are just as excited to be going and doing. Tonight's trip to see a "light-up" at a local state park was a ho-hum for them, but we stopped for a Chinese snack on the way home and had some belly laughs over variations on the song "Do Your Ears Hang Low" that I won't get into here.... So, all's well that ends well.

It's after midnight, but Friday was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I was so struck at Mass (I keep wanting to say "today," but, well, you know what I mean) about how my understanding of Mary has undergone complete and radical change. I understand now that with a Protestant understanding of grace and what it does, the best you can ever see in Mary is a lovely person. Love of her and devotion to her not only makes no sense but looks like idolatry. But to see her as the ultimate work of God's grace, a showcase of the type of work God wishes to do in me and through me, well, that's just mind blowing. Consider that after she appeared in Mexico, seven million pagans (I think was the figure I heard in the homily) were converted and were baptized. It just makes me so happy to think of the marvelous things our God does.

And today (ok, yesterday) I am reminded to be thankful, to be grateful, and for the power of asking for grace and talking about things openly and honestly.