Snakes in Cakes

Well I'm on Long Island. 

It's a super quick trip.  

My mom likes to say I just stop by for a visit twice a year. And yea that's kinda true. 

I was determined to make this time different, to not just let these 10 days fly by. 

Here in lies me saying YES to things before really thinking about what I'm committed to. 

My mom called me a few weeks before I was to arrive home and asked if I would lead a Children"s Liturgy of the Word Sunday. I immediately said YES, and almost instantly regretted it. But I knew my parish back home has done so much for me. There are cute old ladies offering mass up for me daily, spending their time praying for us, and sending their hard earned dollars to me so I can go out and serve the world. The least I could do was give back to the parish in this very small way. 

Let's back up. What is Children's Liturgy of the Word? It's that moment of the mass when all the kids of the parish go down to the Parish Hall and the Gospel is brought to them on their level. And by kids I mean Kindergartner through 6th grade. In one place. With me, as their "teacher" for the day.

As the priest is praying over us the JOY on his face was contagious. Then he says these words "may God grant you wisdom as he as entrusted you with these souls".... Holy Hannah. That's a lot of responsibility. It's my job to bring JESUS to the least of these. As terror rushes through my body, I smile, and walk across the church with a gaggle of little ones. 

A rowdy crew was what the Lord blessed me with that Sunday. So I played into it. I had them clapping during the Alleluia, and asking them pretty interesting questions. 

What are you afraid of? Spiders? The Dark?

Nope! 

This is the answer I got from my little first grade friend "SNAKES IN CAKES".

Oh? I'm sorry what was that? 

SNAKES IN CAKES. 

Okey little man, thanks for sharing. I'll pray for you. 

A bit later we were talking about the Nativity scene and I asked:

"What kind of animals are in your nativity scenes"

Camels

Donkeys

DINOSAURS! yelled a pint sized Peanut in the front row.

Oh? Interesting. 

As our time together was winding down together I asked the kids if they would pray with me. So we said some general prayer intentions and I then opened the floor for them to pray aloud. My "snakes in cakes" dude blew me away. 

He bowed his head and began in a quiet roar..."Hi Jesus, keep my dad safe, and my mom safe, and my big sister who is sitting next to me, and watch over my family" and on and on he went. He kept his eyes closed and his hands folded as he whispered his final thoughts with an Amen. 

I stood there shocked. 

Here I was, entrusted with these souls for a few minutes, expected to change their lives and yet the innocence of that First Grader shook my world. 

He may be afraid of something that I didn't know existed, but he prayed to a powerful God who knows he exists. A God who has counted each of the hairs on my head, and claims me as his own DAILY. A God who hears the cries of our hearts, and in time, answers each of our prayers. A God who takes away our biggest fears of failure, rejection, and lack of self-confidence. Gently guiding us to him and asks us to leave it all at his feet. 

Today, that little first grade friend reminds me to PRAY BIG, know that God hears the littlest of whispers of our heart and that we are SO LOVED.

Praying for you! 

"Seven" Week 1

Advent.

A season in the church I took for granted

As a small child I looked forward to eating the chocolates out of the calendar.

As a high schooler I was excited to finish the quarter but HATED that they sent home report cards just before the start of your winter break.

As a college kid I counted down the assignments that were due and got one day closer to the end of the exhaustion of the Fall Semester.

As a missionary everything changed.

Last year, one of my missionary sisters suggested we fast from something during advent. So I did. Half heartedly. I gave up my pillow. Which wasn't to bad because I had a sweet foam mattress pad that worked pretty much like having a pillow.

This year though I knew it needed to be different. My prayer was getting more intense. The intentions people were asking me to pray for was getting more difficult. The Mission in Atlanta was beginning to grow. I figured a fast to match my prayer would be a great place to begin the sacrifice to rid myself of the junk that was consuming my heart. I really wanted to clean my heart and prepare for Jesus to enter it more fully during the Christmas season.

"Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Make for it two wings: fasting and almsgiving." Saint Augustine

My prayer turned into a conversation with a dear friend.
Which led me to start reading a book called "Seven".
Which then lead me to radical realization. "My life is full of way to many things, and only I can do something about that".

The book starts out with a woman who decides she wants to eat only 7 things for an entire month. So I prayed about it and figured I could do that too. Being gluten and dairy free I have a pretty interesting diet to begin with so I said why not. I started off being really crazy. I said I'm going to eat rice and beans for 24 days! Yes that sounded perfect.

But it wasn't. I wasn't feeling well because I wasn't getting the things by body needed. I needed to be able to function, serve my community and be on mission.

So I've expanded my list a bit

Rice (no salt or butter, just straight up rice)
Rice Cakes (unsalted)
Black Beans
Peanut Butter
Almond Milk
Coffee
Coffee Creamer

I know, I know, the last two items may not seem like a sacrifice. But they are! I'm committed to drinking only one cup a day. I'm pretty sure my community likes me a bit better when I have a cup of coffee in the morning.

So there it is.

Pray for me!