The way He loves us

I think that every once in awhile we all have powerful epiphanies of gratitude, realizing that what we have been given in this particular moment is not only good, but uniquely meant for us by the Heavenly Father. I had one of these moments the other day, when I was walking into an art museum cafe where I sometimes have lunch. It's a beautiful little cafe in the front of the museum, and it's just a fun, peaceful place to eat my lunch. I thought to myself, "Hey, this is pretty cool that I can come to an art museum cafe whenever I want!" I can also walk around the lovely grounds of Constitution Gardens or the Elipse on my lunch hour, taking in the lovely sights for a midday reprieve.

When I learned that I had gotten the job at my current organization, I was quite excited about the opportunity to work in such a beautiful, magnificent building. Though like any job where you get caught up in the routine and just get used to your surroundings, I too can just take for granted my working environment. But when it come down to it, I work in a lovely space; at least several times each day, I take the white rod iron spiral staircase in the library (for staff use only) just because it makes me feel like I am a character in a novel or some romantic scene. (Remember Marianne the Librarian? ) Or I like to watch the sunlight stream in the large windows of our office, with the regal marble columns framing the scene of the Washington monument and the bustling landscape. I love passing by the little museum rooms decorated according to different time 18th and 19th century furnishing styles, and hearing the classical folk music emanating from the museum gift shop. Working in a beautiful and pleasant environment has always been important to me – I am not the kind of girl that would take easily to working in a grey, monotone cubicle without windows.

Being in a place which is welcoming and inviting really affects the way that I am inspired and work. And so, when I found out that I got a job at this organization, I remember thinking, “How good God is. He knows how much I loves pretty things, old fashioned loveliness, and a welcoming space that inspires and soothes the soul. What a good Father, who gives me a job that corresponds with these little things that He knows will bring me simple delight and joy each day.” There was something so special about that realization: that God is an indulgent Father who surprises us beyond our expectations in the little ways He uniquely blesses each one of us with joy. So when I get frustrated with my job, or bored, or start questioning what I am doing at the moment, I like to think of this little reminder of His sweet faithfulness. I would encourage you to reflect on this as well. How has God given you blessings that correspond to you and the things you most treasure?

It’s kind of like when a family member or friend gives you a gift that you just love; that person knows you so well, is able to find something to give you that they know will bring you great joy. And so it is with Our Heavenly Father, who knows us better than we know our own selves; every once in awhile, we realize just how perfectly His little gifts “fit” us, and that indeed, His love is extravagant.

Lenten Resolutions

So tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Hard to believe it's here already. Lent always seems to sneak up on me; just when I am getting complacent in the February dullness. It's a really good opportunity to reorient myself and reinvigorate myself spiritual focus. Like many others, I suspect, I am no good at this self-denial thing. Either I choose something really drastic (like going from three cups of coffee a day to none...caffeine withdrawal headache anyone?) or I completely lose focus of why I am giving something up because I am completely caught up in trying to abstain from my favorite sugar, junk food, or social networking indulgence. I am truly amazed at people who can remain faithful to their Lenten sacrifice while also keeping the meaning of this sacrifice foremost in their mind.

So today, on Fat Tuesday, I am reflecting on what I should give up or do, this Lent. As I write this though, I am realizing that it is not as much as what I decide I should do, but what God is calling me to do. How He is asking me to purify my life, even in the little things. One Lenten resolution that came to me this morning is for me to strive to spend 30 minutes a day in personal prayer. Although I have been more or less able to do morning and sometimes evening prayer on my commute to work, I think it would be incredibly transformative to spend more quite time in prayer listening to the Lord. Wrapped up in this goal will simultaneously be some sort of self-denial required for me to find this extra time in my day. I guess it will either mean waking up a half an hour earlier each day (eek!) or by passing my normal evening activity of surfing Facebook. I am hoping to find a good Lenten devotional through which I can focus my prayer. If you have any suggestions of good devotionals, I would love to hear them.

Here's to a blessed, grace-filled, transformative Lent to all of you!

theater, faith, and truth

For the past several months I have been developing a renewed interest in theater, and scheming of ways to attend more theater productions. I have always enjoyed theater, especially musicals. Growing up I was in a few plays, including some homegrown productions of American Girl plays, musical theater camps, and a high school musical. I have also always enjoyed acting; maybe it has something to do with my ability to create impersonations or dramatic interpretations of everyday events to my friends and family. In college this was one interest that I really didn't have time to dedicate time to, although I attended a few theater performance.

Perhaps having friends, and now co-workers, who truly enjoy the color and inspiration that the theater brings over the past year have encouraged me to rekindle my interest in this art form. And then there was going to Broadway. In December a few friends and I took a trip to New York City, and it was my first time there. What was I most excited about? Seeing a show on Broadway, of course! It was so exciting to see the iconic Broadway theaters throughout New York - with all the lights, glitz, and famous musical bills posted on buildings. My friends and I saw the musical "Finian's Rainbow", which was just delightful. The acting was excellent, the scenery was exquisite, and the music was rousing and heartwarming. It was definitely one of those very uplifting performances where you left with a smile on your face, humming the tunes in your head for days. Musicals, although most times are unrealistic and sometimes borderline cheesy, have a way of doing that: bringing you out of your troubles, current life challenges, and daily struggles, and through song, dance, and acting, bringing you a sense of optimism and hope that truly touches you. Because I so interested in the Broadway legacy after seeing a Broadway show, I started watching a documentary series on PBS about the history of Broadway, called Broadway: The American Musical.

Although I have only watched two of the six volumes, I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far, as it weaves a narrative of how American culture intersects with the arts throughout the late 19th and 20th century.

As I have been gaining interest in theater over the past couple months, I have been thinking that it would be a lot of fun to be in a theater performance again. I am not sure where I would find this opportunity again -- perhaps in a community theater, but since I don't have a car yet, that's not really an option for me for a few months. It's a fun opportunity for me to think about, and I think I would enjoy acting and performing again.

Through my recent theater attendance and research, I have been convinced that there is something unique in theater that compels the human heart, speaks to it, and inspires it. I think that this can be experienced by both the actor or actress in the show, and the audience watching the show. However, even when thinking about it, I couldn't quite put my finger on how this art form uniquely communicates beauty and Truth to man. While surfing the internet, I was excited to come across this website, The Blackfriars Repertoire Theatre, which apparently a theatre in New York City which was started by Dominican Friars, and continues to "produce plays that reflect the spiritual nature of man and his destiny" as well as "produce high quality theater of all kinds that edifies, uplifts, entertains, and inspires."

On this site, I found a fascinating article by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P., that explains the reasons why theatre is such a poignant art form, and it's ability to uniquely challenge and inspire men and women. This article is entitled "The Role of Theater in the Evangelization of Culture," and brings together the thoughts of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, John Paul II, Monsignor Guissani, and a few pivotal theater figures and their commentary on the value of theater for evangelization and human inspiration. I would highly recommend reading this article if you too enjoy theater and the arts. It will encourage you to watch and participate in theater in a new way.

In closing, I will share one of my favorite quotes in the piece

"Von Balthasar notes that 'theatre owes its very existence substantially to man's need to recognize himself as playing a role.' Christ, who reveals man to himself, as actor reveals the contours of the role of the human 'I' in the human drama."

To make Him known

This quote by Caryll Houselander really inspired me, and reminded me of how the heart of evangelization is simple. Often times we make it more complicated than it needs to be. But in the end, it comes down to one thing: love. The love of God, is best manifested by us simply being in love with God.

"Those who have him [Christ], those in whom he is born again day after day, have just this one work to do: to show the others what they want, what they long for, is Christ.

Let them see that 'the Lord is little and greatly to be loved' and they will do the rest. Books of theology can frighten them, noisy propaganda can drive them away, controversy can chill them, organization withers up their minds, but the joy of someone like themselves, happy in the company of God, cannot fail to show them how lovable God is. "

Crystal Curtains

Lots of pretty icicles during the blizzard. What a lovely sight as the sun shone through them.

My favorite recipe source

Since I am on the topic of cooking, I figured sharing one of my favorite recipe websites would be fitting. I just love the site: tastespotting.com. Subtitled "a community-driven visual potluck", this site aggregates photos of some of the best food recipes on the web, and updates their collection daily.


You can't visit this site without gaining mouthwatering inspiration for your next cooking adventure! The search function on this site is a little too basic for my liking, but you can still perform a simple search to find specific courses, like soup or salad, or main ingredients in a dish. If you have a favorite recipe website, I would love to hear about it. I am always looking for new cooking blogs to explore, especially ones that feature organic, whole foods recipes. Bon appetite!

Inspirations from Julie and Julia

Since Washington D.C. got slammed with 2 feet of snow this weekend, most residents have been snowed in for a few days. I can't complain, because it's actually been quite a lovely weekend, giving us the chance to stop running around at the typical D.C. frenetic pace and enjoy the company of dear friends that live close enough to walk to. We've enjoyed board games, cooked delicious meals, danced and listened to music, and just enjoyed being together. While the blustery snowfall continued outside, we have also watched several movies, a perfect snowstorm pastime. Although I enjoyed all of the films that we watched, the movie Julia and Julie that we watched last night was particularly inspiring.

Several of my friends had told me about this movie and how much they enjoyed it. I have to say, I was not disappointed! Julie and Julia is a delightful story which juxtaposes the cooking adventures of Julia Child in her early years of cooking, and the adventures of Julie, a cooking enthusiast in Manhattan fifty years later who decides to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." The movie follows the ambitious cooking projects of Julie and Julia; it follows Julie as she attends the esteemed French cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu, and then embarks with two fellow cooking enthusiasts on writing a cookbook for American women on the art of French cooking. Julia, meanwhile, loves cooking as a creative outlet to her stressful and monotonous job, and through the suggestion of her husband Eric, decides to start a cooking blog in which she will blog about cooking each of the 524recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, a feat which she vows to accomplish in just one year.




There were several aspects of this story which were very inspiring to me. First of all, I found it very inspiring the way that both Julie and Julia took their circumstances of boredom, restlessness, and free time, and channeled their energies invest in their passion: cooking. Julie was trying to figure out what she would do while she and her husband were stationed in Paris for his job. She could have simply sought to get a typical administrative job working for the government, but instead she choose to enter the new territory of the professional cooking world. She didn't choose what was neccesarily simple or routine, but choose to invest her time and heart in one of the aspects of life which brought her much joy - cooking, nourishing, delicious food, and sharing it with those she loved.

Similarly, Julia was able to embrace on her ambitious cooking project as a way to bring color, joy, and new direction to what was currently a stagnant, and sometimes disapointing routine. As an aspiring writer, she had previously gotten turned down by publishers on her manuscript, and was discouraged about not being able to have ever landed a publishing deal. Yet it was partly beacuse of this unfulfilled dream that she had the desire to resume writing again and to begin a project that she felt she could successfully finish. And in the process of her cooking blog and cooking adventures, she was able to combine her passions of writing and cooking, and fulfill her dreams.

Another aspect that really touched me about this movie was the relationship of Julie Child and her husband Paul, and Julia and her husband Eric. Both husbands were extremely supportive of their wives' endeavors, encouraging them, affirming them, laughing with them, and being there to pick up the pieces when their wives' dreams seemed to be falling apart. And the beauty of Julie and Julia's love for cooking was not only that it brought themselves joy, but that it was an oportunity for them to bring joy through learning about, buying, preparing, cooking, and serving delicious food to their husbands. Although Julie definitely hit some bumps in the road and had to learn the hard way that in the end her husband was more important that her goals in themselves, it is inspiring to see her realize this discover the importance of her marriage anew.
Through sharing their passions, Julie and Julia are able to offer a gift of themselves to the ones they love in a unique, creative way.

So, the moral of the story for me was that there is always time to follow your dreams, always time to nurture ambition and new goals. Sometimes these goals are intertwined in your 9-5pm job, but often times, they are not. But this story reminded me that in that space where we do have room to shape our activities, be it on the weeknights, weekends, or even our lunch breaks, there is a chance for creativity to unfold, and a chance for us to follow our dreams unabashedly. It just takes a little ambition, a little courage and a little unconventionality to turn those things which bring us great joy into a dream undertaken and fulfilled.

Snowpocalypse 2010

No mail today!