Giants

Dear Readers,
I have been reading Gulliver's travels. In this book he goes to a land of Giants, the author describes them as being disgusting, smelly and ugly. Of course that is just because he is so much smaller than them, in ohter words he is seeing them from a different angle. Every pore on their body is huge in comparison, their face is all discolored and strange looking. But that is because he is seeing the bigger picture. I thought of how strange I would look to myself is I was all of the sudden small, how every imperfection I am able to look over would be magnified by a thousand. Then I started thinking of how it should be the same with our lives. I know that I look over the imperfections in my prayer life and my relationship with God. But what if I took a whole new aproach? What then? I would see the part in my life that needed serious patching up and remodeling. And right now in the season of lent is the perfect time. It is a time of fasting and penance for our sins and our imperfections. I hope we can all take a new look at our lives, and try to see them with new eyes and hearts. God bless all of you!
Peace and love in Christ!
-Alyse

Si Dios Quiere

Dear readers,
The other day while I thought of the many reasons I love Mexico I remembered a phrase that is a part of their culture that I love. It is "Si Dios quiere" it means "God willing". This is a phrase that we use in the USA but not half as often as there. Every time they say see you later or speak of the future they add si Dios quiere at the end. So basically every aspect of their lives is based and reliant on God. Our lives are based on God as well but we don't always admit or acknowledge it. How sad huh? God gives us everything and we don't even talk about him that often. I don't expect to change all of the world to have a wonderful phrase like si Dios quiere but that doesn't mean I don't want it to. I just hope that we can be a culture that talks more about God. Let everything that you say praise the Lord.
Peace and love in Christ!
Alyse

Unique

Dear readers,
Sorry it has been a little while since i have posted, things have been a tad bit hectic lately. Anyway, today in morning prayer we got a reading on God's love for each of us individually, how we are special to him in a different way from any one else. And it got me thinking about how crazily amazing that is!!! Out of 6 billion people on this globe I am special to God, not only special but unique! I know that if I was "in charge" 6 billion people, I wouldn't think of each one as unique or special to me; but that is one of the amazing wonderful things about God. He even has a mission unique to each one of us, none of us will be doing the exact same thing as another and no one can do the job God has in store for you but yourself. Of course everyone in the world is called to Love and serve God but we aren't all called to be priests or nuns of foreign missionaries. We all know that there is more than one priest in this world but each of the hundreds has a unique mission that only they can accomplish. And not only priests have a purpose everyone does. I am not going to pretend I know exactly what God plans to use me for and it is probably best i didn't, but the important thing is to be open to whatever he has in store for us. Praise God for his love and wonder!
Alyse

Bubbles

Dear Readers,
Today after furiously throwing aside my hated math work I stepped outside. There was a cool breeze and i walked barefoot into the grass. I opened up a small container of bubbles and blew into the little wand. Dozens of bubbles were then blown across the whole lawn I dipped the wand over and over again, the wind carrying away every batch I blew. I then thought of how present the wind was and even though no one can see it. And even if we are inside our house the air is still there, we are just blocking ourselves from feeling the wind. I thought of how silly it would be if people denied it's existence. They could pretend it wasn't real but its presence it inevitable. You could close you eyes when the news flashed tornadoes or hurricanes, but that wouldn't make it any less real or powerful. God is the same in a lot of ways. Even though we cant really see him, we feel him in so many ways. It would be silly to think he is any less present than the air, and unlike air God is everywhere. He is constantly revealing himself to us, whether it be in bubbles or hurricanes, he is here with us. God bless you all!
Alyse

Princess

Yesterday my family and I went to the Incredible Pizza Place. It was lots of fun and afterward Ms. Kathy got Livia a princess skirt and a fuzzy tiara with the tickets she had won. It was adorable, Livia walked around all day in her purple glittery skirt and even insisted on putting it on over her pajamas that night. The whole day I thought of what a delight it was to watch her be happy and spin around in delight. I realized how much I delighted in her and how in my mind she was a real princess. We called her princess Livia and it took me all that i had not to hold her up in my arms all day and not let her go. That night I sat in bed and thought about that with my prayer time. I thought of how we must look to God. How we are so precious in his sight and everything that we do well he just delights in. Even if Livia tugs my hair or reprimands me for something I didn't do wrong I still love her just as much and I cant get really mad at her. I thought of how silly it is when Livia does something she knows is wrong and I thought of how silly we must look to God when we do something we don't think about enough to know is wrong. And even though God, I am sure, is sometimes disappointed he still loves us so much and wont ever stay mad at us. And as soon as we are sorry he lets us back with open arms. Remember that God delights in you always!
Peace and love in Christ Jesus!
Alyse

Praise God ALWAYS

Dear readers,
As I sat here and though of what to write I realized nothing new or interesting happened to me yesterday or today. I just sat around, watched TV with my siblings and that's about it. Then I got disappointed in myself, not only because reading what i had for supper isn't interesting but also because God gave me life, and time and it is gone now, wasted and unaccounted for. And now I have something to write about because I just was reminded of the necessity to live for God always. Not only when you have set out to do it but when you haven't, when you are eating a double stack of pancakes or when you are lazing around watching your siblings play the Wii. There is the saying everybody has heard "live each day like it was your last". This does not mean jump off of a cliff and then scuba dive into the ocean, it means that you must be happy with the thought of going to heaven the next second. Be ready for it, remembering that nothing is certain, not our next breath or day. You need to always feel ready to have your life judged. Because even though we aren't always thinking about God, God is always thinking about us.
Praise God Always!
Alyse

The Dentist office

Today I went to the Dentist office. I was kindly accompanied to a chair where I laid down and soon after was shot in the gums and had four different tools stuck in my mouth one of which was drilling holes into my tooth. It was a surreal experience, my mouth was numb and when i looked up three different lights were pointed at my face, well not really but it felt like it.
And weirdly enough while I sat there I thought about purgatory and confession. I realized my cavity was my sin and Jesus was the dentist; I know it sounds silly, but my brain just works like that. Anyway I realized after contemplating more that my metaphor was dead on. Our sin builds up, we think it is gone but then it starts to rot away at our life, leaving black holes in what was once good. It is also painful, it gets stuck so deep into our lives that it gets to the point theres only one thing we can do that will be affective. Get it drilled out.
Of course if Jesus wasn't in the equation it would be a sad ending, but he is. He comes and not only takes away our sin but fills the gaps it left with something stronger than before. I happily await lent, a wonderful time to get our sin out. During meditation on the greatest gift ever given we can renew our souls and get filled up in order to live life to the fullest, with nothing holding us back. Praise God for his mercy!!!
God Bless always,
Alyse