What are you hungry for?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Have you heard about the Hunger Games?

Unless you have been deep-sea diving with James Cameron you can’t escape the phenomenon that is the Hunger Games. Tweens, teens and adults have made it one of the largest gross movies openings of all times.
I read and enjoyed all three books in the series and have been amazed/amused at the controversy it has caused.
Do I think they are too violent for young children… absolutely.
Do I think they should not be required reading in middle school… of course.

But they are fiction and present an imaginary life in a well thought out story. They are written for young adult, high school aged teens and older. Does society really believe that the fiction Panem is worse than the reality television teenagers are watching? Again, they are fiction…and should be read as such.

With that expressed…

As I was reading them, I was hearing Katniss’s struggle to survive and her struggle to see her sister again.
You could see that she hungered for her father in her life again.
She hungered to not be in the situation she was placed in.
She hungered for a community that did not have to be ruled by the elite of the Capital.
She hungered to be able to trust the others around her (especially Rue and Peeta).
She hungered for an end to the games she hated, having been forced to watch them each year.

Isn’t our lives similar?
Don’t we hunger to spend more time with family?
Don’t we hunger to have relationships of trust?
Don’t we hunger to live in a society that values each and every person?
Don’t we hunger for a society to end poverty, loneliness, homelessness?

We can create a critical, negative atmosphere or we can see the good in society around us. I choose GOOD!

I choose to work for PEACE, JUSTICE and EQUALITY.

Complain all you want about the Hunger Games, it was a good read and thought-provoking on how a powerful society can become if you don’t have a voice.

THANK GOODNESS, we have a voice! But how many people don’t…do you see them…do you speak for them?

Bloggers have the freedom to express ourselves and to share our thoughts.

Look deep inside yourself…what are you hungry for?
What will you be the “girl of fire” for? Lend your voice…

The hunger I crave is for FREEDOM, ACCEPTANCE and LOVE!

True Love

What is Love actually?

Today is Valentine’s Day and the roses are delivered and cards sent, but are those things love?

Love is so much more than this one day, it’s so much more than flowers or well wishes.

Love is divine, love is something we can’t touch or see, love begins in the depth of our souls.

 

One of my favorite movies is Love Actually.

I know some thinks it’s a Christmas movie, but it stirs such deep emotions within me that are not just “Christmas-y”.

Love actually is a mirror into so many different relationships.

 

My family talks about which relationship in the movie we like the best and we can never settle on one.

 

Joanna and Sam…who has not had a first love. A love so pure and innocent that you would race under the security radar and sprint through airports, just to say good-bye.  A love that you open your heart to

 

The Prime Minister and Natalie…awkward and unexpected. Love can be so surprising when it catches you off guard. The freeing feeling of being totally yourself, making a fool of yourself and knowing that someone loves you even with all your flaws

 

Jamie and Aurelia…breaking barriers. Love cannot be contained by language or proximate barriers. Love conquers anything when you recognize it and embrace it.

 

Mark and Juliet…adoration. Knowing there is something or someone who you love so deeply that you can make choices for their good, in spite of how you feel is foundational in long relationship. You open yourself to an amazing love when you put others before yourself. Love whether it is unreturned or not.

 

Billy and Joe…friendship. I love this deep friendship that knows no boundaries and has been carved from respect. Friends  are there through thick and thin, through hills and valley, through better and worse. Friendship love is like the glue that holds people together.

 

Sarah and Karl…family. We love our spouses, we love our friends and we have crushes, but everything begins with family. God created the family in the image of the Holy Trinity, we are a communal people, we need relationships, we need touch, we need connection. We need love.

 

Treasure and nurture each of the unique types of love you have in your life!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

What’s on your Christmas list?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…every where you go!

And I’m not just singing the song, it really is looking like Christmas. Chicago has only gotten a snow dusting for one day so far, but it was enough to get you bundling up and preparing for the long winter nights.

I love the change of seasons, the cool brisk air, the scarves pulled over your face, the warm Ugg boots and the cold “puppy dog” nose. With winter weather comes the joy of Christmas. It is a time of hope, when miracles seem possible. It is a time of peace, where neighbors share good cheer. It is a time of love, where greetings are sent and hugs are delivered with family and friends spending time with each other.

I pray for all those families that are spending this Christmas without a loved one. That empty space at the table can only be filled with memories and stories of times spent together. May each of those families feel the warmth of Christ as he holds them especially close through the holidays. I am wishing that they too can see the hope, peace and love of Christmas.

Christmas time is filled with decorating, baking, celebrating, shopping and gift-giving. My children always ask for a list of ideas that they can get me – and they are always eager to send me what they would like as gifts. So what on my list?

Two weeks with both my children home
My husband’s homemade French Toast
Game nights together
Dinner and a show Downtown
Snuggling on the couch watching movies

My favorite gifts are never store bought…they are always heart given…memories that last forever, love that never ends.
This Christmas, I am forever grateful for my incredible family, our good fortune of health and home.

May the brown paper packages tied up with string under your Christmas tree be filled with JOY!!!

Emptiness

There is a jagged hole in my heart that over the years,
the waves of goodness from family and friends will
hopefully soften those edges.
But there will always be a hole in my heart. William Petit

William Petit’s wife and two daughters were tragically and brutally murdered in their Cheshire, Connecticut home. The loss of a family is something no one should ever endure. As I watched an interview with William Petit I was heart-broken.
How does a small community recover from such a horrific crime?
How do you express what you are feeling when you read about the murders?
How does a father move forward without his daughters and his wife?
How do you fill the emptiness in your heart?

A loss that great never leaves you. Sometimes it appears that life resumes and moves on, but under the surface, in your heart…there is always a hole. The quote above has sat heavy with me since I heard it.

People often can’t formulate words to bring comfort. They may say, time heals all wounds. But when this father said these words, it showed the depth of the pain and the emptiness that will forever exist. It may eventually be less hurtful when remembering your loved ones, but it still hurts. The goodness from family and friends will help, but not remove the hole.

We learn to deal with the emptiness, we remain steadfast in the faith that we will one day be together again. This season, many of our family and friends may be celebrating an empty holiday, missing a piece of this heart.

I remember the first Christmas without my father. He passed away in April and as I was trimming the tree I broke down. I felt the emptiness, I recognized the hole. But my father was in Florida for years and years of Christmases, so this reaction was unexpected. I usually did not see him for the holidays, but I knew that year everything would be different. I especially lift up my cousin’s son, Michael Olivieri who I wrote about in June. Mikey was killed in Iraq and the hole is forever present in the hearts of our family.

In life we grieve for lost loved ones, we have joy with each new life, and if we are really fortunate, when it is time for us to reflect on our own lives we will have experienced more joy than grief.

Family, friends and prayers will help to get you through the emptiness.
For those who are experiencing a loss this past year, reach out to those around you and embrace their generosity and love.
For those you know that experienced a loss, reach out and lift them up in prayer and community, they need you know more than you know.

May the love of the holidays and friends fill your emptiness with waves of goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!!

I am blessed with my children and my husband.
I am blessed with health in my family.
I am blessed with the love of dear friends.
I am blessed with a home for warmth and neighbors who care.
I am blessed with people who have touched my life this past year, in small ways that they will never completely understand, but have altered my outlook, my focus or my future.
I am blessed with amazing young children that I am able to work with as we share faith together.
I am blessed with the ability to laugh and to make others laugh.
I am blessed with sight, to see all the beauty that was created for us all to soak in and bask in its glory.
I am blessed with a faith that allows me to be in relationship with Our Lord Jesus, who above all is my guide, my friend, my teacher and my father.

I AM BLESSED – HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!