5 Reflections from CCC

1.  It is a million times harder to travel with children!  Traveling by myself I actually get to sleep, read, watch the in-flight entertainment, visit, window shop... rather than entertain, feed, chase, discipline, put to sleep, hold, distract, intervene, pacify... you get the picture!  By myself, a 10 hour lay-over is long, but not dreadful.

2.  I got to enjoy meals not cooked by me when they were hot, go to sleep when I wanted to go to sleep, exercise when I wanted to exercise, sleep through the night without waking up once, enjoy extended adult conversations without interruptions, bask in extended solitude time (hours by myself every day enjoying God's creation!), worship and learn without distraction, listen to lessons I didn't have to prepare myself, laugh and be silly, cry, listen to God.  Basically, I was given space to get back to the 'me' underneath all my roles and responsibilities.

3.  "Look at the fingerprints of God in the mundane and the pivotal.  God has already written the end of the story and is working backwards to make it happen.  Where is the redemption in your story?  What is God restoring?  What is God reconciling?"

4.  "Our mission is to love well and create space for others to be loved well by God."

5. "It is in solitude that we come to experience the 'silence of God' and so receive the inner silence that is the craving of our heart.  Take advantage of the 'little solitudes' that fill our day - little moments that help us to be genuinely present where we are." /  "Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself." Teresa of Avila

Thank you to all of you who made the CCC conference possible this year!  It is such an amazing gift to be able to participate in this event.  In conclusion, I'd like to share the psalm I developed in our psalm writing activity:

Psalm of "Entrega" (spanish word for 'surrender')

O God, you are my refuge and my source.  Who can compare with you?

You are astoundingly creative, you are incomparably gracious and I bless your Holy name.

I have seen the beauty of your handiwork in the butterfly's wings and

the ocean's tide pools, and I open my mouth to speak your praises.

You have blessed me in my being with silence and solitude

and have filled me to overflowing through your love. 

You have helped me to rest in your grace and peace and I give you thanks.

I want to praise you with my life, serve you with my whole being, but I am weak and needy.

Forgive me when I take everything on myself, which is idolatry, and

give my the courage and strength to entrust all needs to you.

I submit to your loving hand and offer you my rule of life because

you alone can fill me to overflowing.