{bits & pieces}
The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
Sukie and I were talking about how great it is to have a good planner and to-do list, but how perhaps misguided to have the sense that we must wake up in the morning very, very goal-oriented, or at least very aware that everyone else is goal-oriented and we are, by comparison, falling behind.
In this season of achieving all the things and decluttering all the things* and making sure we are bursting with explosions of creativity, all of which of course I endorse, maybe each day we might pause to think about how much it means to those around us to find us peaceful.
The drive to check off all the boxes can make normal things seem like obstacles.
I’m here to report that, just for instance, babies are not efficient…
… but that this inefficiency is a feature, not a bug.
In other words, I put for your consideration that the seeming pointlessness of daily life in making a home may be a result of our not having the vantage point necessary to see the whole. And these circumstances of life that seem so, well, not fabulously indicative of our self-realization and positively derailing of such, may be God’s way of helping, not hindering, us reach where we need to be.
I was also talking to my friend Therese yesterday, and she was lamenting how little direction we have from from our spiritual leaders, to know that we are not here on earth to perform to some worldly standard and become all we can be, this instant; but simply to do God’s will and be with Him in heaven.
And yet, each day is also full of things we need to do!
Today (as so many days) the Office of Readings (From a letter of Pope St Clement I to the Corinthians) explained the paradox well, and suited my theme:
It is obvious, therefore, that none of these owed their honour and exaltation to themselves, or to their own labours, or to their deeds of virtue. No; they owed everything to God’s will. So likewise with us, who by his will are called in Christ Jesus. We are not justified by our wisdom, intelligence, piety, or by any action of ours, however holy, but by faith, the one means by which God has justified men from the beginning. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen…
… What must we do then, brothers? Give up good works? Stop practising Christian love? God forbid! We must be ready and eager for every opportunity to do good, and put our whole heart into it. Even the Creator and Lord of the universe rejoices in his works. By his supreme power he set the heavens in their place; by his infinite wisdom he gave them their order.
Read the rest of it (it’s short).
*But, on the other hand, if you are perchance decluttering and finding that your Springerle molds do not spark joy and you will never use them again, no matter how much Auntie Leila posts on IG about them, can you please contact me to make a deal? I will take them off your hands, with remuneration of course, mutually acceptable, if they fit into my plans. I feel that this whole decluttering movement could work in my favor…
On to our links!
I hate the term “toxic masculinity” and thought this rebuttal from a watch company to that awful shaving company ad, was moving and brilliant.
A little clarification from a respected physician on the topic of whether marijuana has been shown in medical studies to be helpful.
For those without a subscription, a few quotes:
Actual medicines have research behind them, enumerating their benefits, characterizing their harms, and ensuring the former supersedes the latter. Marijuana doesn’t. It’s a toxin, not a medicine. It impairs judgment and driving ability. It increases the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Smoking it damages the respiratory tract. A 2017 report from the National Academy of Medicine called the evidence for these harms “substantial.”
Some advocates say marijuana is better than opiates for pain. Yet while opiates have risks, there are no studies comparing them to marijuana, and untested claims in medicine don’t get the benefit of the doubt. Testing such a hypothesis often disproves it.
Decades passed before we took on smoking and drinking with education, labeling and other forms of regulation. But it worked, and deaths from lung cancer, heart disease and alcohol-associated accidents are in sharp decline. We need this same approach with marijuana. Acknowledging that it is not a medicine is a necessary first step.
A C. S. Lewis doodle! This one is on the Four Cardinal Virtues, a topic dear to my heart.
Do you know about the life and witness of Jerome Lejeune, geneticist and hero of the pro-life movement?
A reflection on the desecration of God’s temple.
Speaking of temples, Duncan Stroik, one of today’s foremost sacred architects, on the need for a new counter-reformation.
Kitchens of the Victorian period.
And what of beauty of buildings in general?
From the archives:
As the sad anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches on Monday, here is what I wrote with my thoughts on marching, staying home, and healing a wounded nation: Marriage is the plan, there is no other plan.
Some little things that just make me feel housewifely (I remembered this post upon seeing a discussion on Facebook of how kids love wearing aprons to do their chores!)
Today there are some relatively obscure (yet of course appreciated!) saints on the calendar, St. Marius and family and St. Canute.
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