"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." ~ Blessed Mother Teresa
On October 5, 2013 the Concert Chorale and Chamber Singer groups of Benedictine College performed a Disney themed Pops Concert. Here are the videos in order!
Thank you so much to all my fellow performers and those who worked hard to make this happen. It was such a joy to be part of!
Yes, I skipped this last week. It’s good to be back!
Have you ever realized how vital thumbs are? To anyone out there missing one: you rock. That would take a lot of getting used to. In the last week sometime, I accidentally slammed my right thumb as I went to take the Wall Street Journal out of my mailbox. It ripped completely through, nearly half way across my nail horizontally. It sounds much more dramatic and painful that it actually was, but I’ve had to keep it covered so I don’t snag it on anything. Yay thumbs!
Earlier this week was Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity. It was much easier than last year when there was a presidential debate 🙂 It’s rather isolating to be silent for a day, but it makes me appreciate how helpless people sometimes are when dealing with abortion. We ended the day by breaking silence with a candlelight vigil which was beautiful!
How beautiful is this?
Outside the abortion clinic we pray at, there are people who yell through traffic cones about how the clinic staff and clients are going to hell. A couple of them come and yell at us about the Blessed Mother. But through it all, we are there to be the light. Nothing can stop us from peacefully greeting the workers and clients as they go in and being a witness to the peace and joy that life brings. We’re working on showing the same gracious attitude toward the people who hinder us from reaching women as well. I’m not sure exactly why they’re out there, but I appreciate that they do something about abortion, even if it’s not how I would like it. I hope and pray that our peaceful presence might touch them in some way and plant a seed.
This morning in quantitative analysis (which has ended up being WAY easier than I thought it would be), my mind started wandering and thinking about all the things that inspire me. I came up with a list, and can’t wait to share it with you this weekend! Every so often I get really tired of all the negativity in life (which I’ve been trying to distance myself from), and am struck by just how beautiful life is and how blessed I am to have the life I do. All it takes is a moment to sit back and realize how insignificant most of our tribulations are, and how grateful we should be for all we’ve been given and/or worked for.
This weekend is homecoming! We’re having a sock hop. And bed races. And a parade. And lots of other things I can’t remember. It’s going to be fun. And how wonderful is it going to be to NOT have to study for a test?!?! Whew, I’m looking forward the fun times.
Next week is fall break! I’m going home for a few days to be at the banquet dinner I helped plan this summer with one of the pregnancy centers I worked for. We’re bringing out Gianna Jessen to speak, and it will be lovely. I can’t wait to see my family and not worry about school things for a few days.
We’re done with Disney songs in concert chorale, and are starting to work on Christmas ones for our Christmas performance. I was extremely excited to discover that one of them is one of my favorite Christmas songs: Breath of Heaven. I was reading through it before class the other day and struck with just how beautiful the lyrics are. It made me tear up. To hear a song from Mary’s perspective is just so beautiful. She is the ultimate example of humility and striving to follow God’s will. Watch it here:
Have I used the word “beautiful” too much in this post? Probably. Well, have a beautiful weekend and check out Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!
I happened to see this link up, and thought it would be neat to summarize my blog with some of my favorite posts. But boy was it hard to choose! Here are some of my most favorite and/or popular posts.
Click around and read these if you haven’t already! Or if you’re new here, have fun learning about my life and the way I write from these posts. You can also read about me or contact me. Be sure to check out the other blogs in a blink over here.
Today was Respect Life Sunday, and the national Life Chain event (which was one of the first pro-life events I participated in). We stood at the intersection for an hour with our “Pray to End Abortion” signs and got lots of positive responses from Atchison residents. It was beautiful to see so many people out there willing to stand for life and be a witness in our community. It was especially beautiful to see many of the Benedictine professors out there praying up a storm with their kids.
It reminded me of the first time I did this two years ago. It was back home in a much busier and liberal area.
So I went and found my Facebook note I wrote the day after (before the blogging age) and thought I’d share it with you:
October 4th, 2011
Yesterday I participated in the Life Chain event, a nation-wide peaceful and prayerful event where pro-life people stand along busy streets holding signs. These signs herald pro-life messages such as “Abortion Hurts Women”, “Adoption the loving option”, and “Pray for an end to abortion”. I didn’t know what to expect going to this event, since I’d never been before, but was happy to join others in standing for life.
Our local Life Chain happened on a very busy intersection with lots of car dealerships around. I arrived with my Mom and two of my sisters. We hopped out of the car and headed down the road to get signs to hold. We got ours and joined friends along the street. I took my post, watching cars, praying that our quiet witness to life might inspire people who drove past.
Most cars zoomed past us. Some slowed down to read the signs. Of those who read the signs and responded, we got at least four positive responses for every negative response. Some waved, or gave us a thumbs up. Others honked and smiled, while a few gave us “the finger”. As I stood there on the side of the road, I wondered what these people were thinking. Did they agree with us? Did they disagree? Do they know what abortion is? Some of them thought we were crazy, as did one man who stopped and told us to quit accusing him of being a natzi *bleep*. Did any of our signs say that? No. Did any of the participants say that to him? I doubt it. I wondered what caused this man to be so bitter against us. Had he been personally hurt by abortion? I hope God blessed him with a good rest of the day, and that he continues to think about abortion. Hopefully he will come to realize the truth of the pro-life movement one day.
I smiled and waved back to the people who were honking, waving, and giving up thumbs up. It was great to see those people respond to us. I don’t know if I should be surprised, but so many people didn’t respond to us at all. Some even avoided looking at us. What was going through the minds of the drivers who were just starring in front of them?
One lady gave a big thumbs down as she waited at the stop light, and shook her head. Another person proudly displayed his finger for the world to see as he passed. A motorcyclist spat at us as he revved his engine and sped by. Had these people been personally affected by abortion? Was the woman suffering from the aftermath of one herself? As she waited at the stop light, she rested her head on her hand and starred into the distance. It looked like she was remembering something. Something that had hurt her. Maybe something we were displaying signs about…
As each of these people passed by, I prayed for them. I prayed for those who gave us thumbs up that they would have the courage to stand with us, for those who gave us a thumbs down that they will someday realize the truth about the scourge of abortion, and I especially prayed for those who did nothing, those who starred into the distance, and those who zoomed past without acknowledging us that if nothing else we planted a seed in their minds. A little seed that when they encounter abortion in their own lives, they will remember those people standing by the road with signs, and will choose life.
If I brought anything away from my Life Chain experience, I came away wishing more people passing by had responded. Even if we had had more negative responses, I would much rather have that than the countless people who did nothing. This is part of what the pro-life movement faced with. We are faced with too many people who do nothing. It may sound a bit harsh, but it’s true.
Think about it: Of the hundreds of people who passed by us, I estimate that 10 – 15% responded. Can you imagine if everyone had responded? Can you imagine if everyone was educated about abortion and took a stance on it? Can you imagine if everyone stood up for what they believed in?
This is what I see in different aspects of life. People tend to be either uneducated on the matter (and therefore unable to take a stance on it), or do not muster the willpower and courage to stand up and make a difference. How are things supposed to get better, and how are we going to help others see the truth if we don’t do anything about it? I love how this quote summarizes what I’m saying “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Boom, bam, baby. I couldn’t say it better. We can’t change hearts and help others to see the truth if we don’t try.
After reading this, ask yourself: “Am I a person who is fine watching from the sidelines, or am I a person who stands up for what I believe in, even if I stand alone?” Are you one of those people cruising down the road, or are you standing there with a sign? I sincerely hope that you are willing to stand up for what you believe in. I pray that God gives us all the courage to speak out against evil, because we need more people who are willing to get uncomfortable for what is right.
I think I kind of forgot what it felt like to be stressed. Until recently, that is. I’ve been doing a fairly good job of getting my assignments done and staying on top of things, but the last couple days have been extremely stressful for me. We’re hosting a speaker on campus right now (which is awesome!), but I’m not going to lie: all the back ground things that entails has stressed me out.
I went to bed on Wednesday knowing I would be getting up with lots to do. Then I woke up an hour and a half before my alarm, thank you very much. (No, that was not a good thing since I needed to sleep.) To top it off, it was pouring rain outside. I had to run to Walmart for some last minute things and forgot my list I had made the night before. Wow. That had to be a pretty quick trip because I had to work soon after and barely had time to eat half a breakfast sandwich before work. Then I had 45 minutes to grab lunch, send out a mass email, and prep some things for tonight. So I got those things done and ate a granola bar on the way to class.
From there it was 40 Days for Life prayers and then everything started for the evening, which I’ll talk about more later.
As I was driving back from Walmart, I was thinking about all this and trying to keep it all straight. Then guess what? This song came on the radio.
And I was reminded why I’m doing all this: for the least of these. Wouldn’t you know it, that was the gospel reading on Wednesday too. Thanks for the reminder, God!
So, what was this all for? Sidewalk counseling training! Don’t know what that is? It’s when you go outside abortion clinics and engage men and women going in. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and just wanted more formal training before trying. We’re leaving campus at 5:15AM tomorrow for our first day. Wish us luck! Or better yet, pray for us.
I’ve been sleeping terrible lately. Now I don’t want to be a negative Nancy here, but really. I never thought I slept weird or had any sleep issues before coming to school. And it really seems as if it’s just this year too. It’s been taking me a good 30+ minutes to get to sleep (sometime upwards of an hour) and then I wake up when my roommate’s alarm goes off or the light goes on, or if there’s any big noise. I can’t go to sleep if there’s a movie on in the lounge or people talking. Of course none of that seems terribly abnormal, but it means that some nights I only get 5 hours of sleep. And I’m not sure what to do about it . . .
Midwest thunderstorms. Need I say more? California has nothing on them.
A couple nights ago I was going to bed and my room was pitch black. I had just walked in from the common room, so my eyes were adjusting and I couldn’t see. I put my books down and reached down to my bed where my red reading pillow was sitting. As I moved it to the floor, I felt something wet and gross on my hand. What?!?!?! I threw it down and grabbed my headlight to see what it was.
It was a big juicy spider.
So ends my adventure of squishing a big spider before crawling into bed….and no. I didn’t dream about them.
You know what tastes really good? Baked potatoes. It’s one thing the caf does really well.
And now here’s a video of a fabulous Disney song that’s a part of my concert chorale performance tomorrow. Video of that coming soon!
Have a splendiforous day. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
A Drop in the Ocean 