7 Quick Takes

For 7 quick takes, I am going to just go with the 7 things that are swirling 'round my head these days. I wish I could concentrate on each one as much as it deserves, but instead these thoughts just troop through one at a time, get me all worked up, and then march out so the next one can take their place.

1 - Our church, which is Episcopal, thinks it's Anglican and wishes it were Catholic, is getting all shook up in our absence, and I'm wondering what in the world will be there when our RSV quarantine season is over. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to being there on Easter Sunday. (Oh, okay, it is Anglican too.)

2 - I'm entering a real, live writing contest within the next week and I am having a blast getting the first fifteen pages of my novel ready for entry. But man, it's a lot of work! Writing is fun, rewriting is work.

3 - I'm back at the size I was when I got pregnant with my first baby - yay! Not that my figure looks quite the same somehow . . . actually, I like it better. But now that I'm normal-sized again, I'm working on getting fit again. Somehow I never feel like exercising till I've actually lost the weight. Then I get all happy about how I feel and I work on building muscle (I love weight-lifting). This actually isn't a problem, but it's something that occupies my mind regularly, as things you're actually working on tend to do.

4 - Did you know that there is a "worldwide economic downturn"? Though, I really think the news media needs to come up with a better name for it. Something like "In Which We Discover Cheaters Never Prosper and Neither Do the Little People Who Live in the Same Country as Them".

5 - Children. We have children, and they're a pack of little sinners. Help, Father, help. Help them, redeem them, give us the grace and wisdom to be good parents . . .

6 - Devotions. #5 actually ended in a prayer, and so do numbers 1-4, actually. As all these things swirl through my mind, I try to pin them down by praying about them. "Here, Lord, you are Lord of this too. Have mercy on us. And this, Lord, you know about this too. Help me to trust you. And this, Lord . . ." Along with that, I am still reading through the Bible (in Numbers, which always has more story and less cenus than I think it does) and starting to read St. Francis de Sales. Again, #6 is what makes #'s 1-5 not overwhelming.

7 - Sleep. I miss it. Missing it does cross my mind now and then, in between the rest. "Hmm, wonder if we have a church to go back to? Oh, if only I could take a nap . . ."

Okay, folks, please tell me I'm not the only one who skips from concern to concern in her thoughts all day long.

And, as I work on praying rather than worrying, does anyone have any good, succinct prayers that they use when they find themselves worrying?

Happy Friday! Make sure you go over to Conversion Diary for more quick takes - and to congratulate Jen on her beautiful new baby!

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica snell