A Woman of Faith Ages Gracefully, Right?

You’ve discovered what it truly means to be “young at heart.”

The wrinkles around your mouth and the pouchy jowls have no effect on you.

You see the varicose veins in your legs and feet as a sign of victory—having carried children and lifted the loads of life.

You are able to make fun of your bat wings and still wear sleeveless shirts in the summer.

That’s what it means to grow old gracefully; it is a sign of maturity of spirit.

Something we attain while we nurture others and as we, ourselves, learn and grow from life’s experiences.

Yeah, not so much…

My own struggle with getting older has been a quiet one—but a real one. And I don’t get that. As a woman of faith my struggles against aging make me question my faith.

Shouldn’t I be sort of excited to be on the dark side of 50? Isn’t one step closer to eternity a bigger milestone than the number 60 that looms in the not-too-distant future? Nope. Not at all.

So it makes me wonder: What’s up with that?

I went to a Neil Diamond concert a few years ago and all I could think was: What are all these old people doing here?

Don't get me wrong: I am glad to be alive and yet the reality of facing aging is still very real.

And I get that some people who are in their 70s think I’m still a babe in the woods; but the fact is, I can’t even call myself “middle aged” unless I can honestly say I think I will live to be around 112 “ish.” Probably not going to happen regardless of how Suzanne Somers spins aging—but I do like her spunk and am very tempted to order her electric-zapping facial contraption (has anyone tried it?).

In the meantime, I ponder this surprising dilemma more and more and look in the mirror less and less.

I’m trying to find the balance between my faith and digging in my heels against time as it flies by—although I do like the idea of the gusts of time pulling back the skin of my face and giving me a more youthful look.

Maybe it is a win-win after all.

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(picture: © Mellefrenchy | Dreamstime.com)

 

Back By Popular Demand

"Innovative, insightful, practical, and inspiring! A great gift for teens." +Ronald P. Herzog Diocesan Bishop of Alexandria, Louisiana 

"If the first few moments of the day set the tone and mood for the rest of the day, then Catherine Brown's words will fill you with energy, optimism, and joy. This work will make you excited to be alive and inspire you to move through the day with greater confidence. A must for anyone who desires to make a difference and live each day to the fullest." B. David Brooks, Pastor Calvary Baptist Church, Alexandria, Louisiana 

"Putting teens in touch with our God is a remarkable work today! I believe Daily Direction for Teenz is an opportunity for such moments to happen." Sr. Ann Lacour, MSC, Superintendent of Catholic Schools Diocese of Alexandria 

Daily Direction for Teenz is back by popular demand so if you are looking for a fun daily devotional for your teen or tween, you won't want to miss this one!

Could That Best-Seller be Bad for Your Health?

There’s growing evidence to support the idea that fiction books can be good or bad for you. It’s a drum I’ve been beating on for a very long time.

I begin supporting my own belief about this by going directly to Scripture: Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8).

Books, after all, cause us to think of things. Whatever fills the pages ultimately fills our mind.

But this doesn’t mean that books ought to be boring. I’m not interested in reading boring books—or publishing them either!

This directive in Scripture shouldn’t translate into fiction books that don’t capture our interest and don't take us on an adventure.

I was invited on Catholic television where I was asked to talk about the newest trend in YA fiction (young adult fiction): the fastest growing audience of YA books is adults! This is because adults love the adventure, characters and even intrigue found in a cleverly crafted YA book—and they like the way they feel when they are done reading it.

So I wasn’t surprised when I recently read in the book Hildegard of Bingen’s Medicine that “It is detrimental for the nerves if persons are always reading new thrillers, or the newest bestsellers.” It goes on to say how the nerves can, however, benefit from reading excellent books and even recommends re-reading them.

I immediately thought of a few amazing fiction books that I had planned on re-reading this fall and now feel even more excited about doing so:

1.     The Green Coat byRosemary McDunn. Love this book!

2.     The Gate by NancyCarabio Belanger. Easily a classic!

3.     Finding Grace byLaura Pearl. I plan on joining her 2015 online book club for the book.

Of course, these are also the reasons that we ought to immerse our tweens and teens in great fiction as well—and these books are a perfect start!

In-Law Problems? There is a Patron Saint for That!

Very few people know about St. Jane Valois. She was a deformed and sickly young daughter of King Louis XI of France. The Catholic Church has given her February 4^th as a feast day and many turn to her intercession when in a difficult, loveless marriage for she was in an arranged marriage that was without love and still she prayed for her husband for decades.

She is just one of the many interesting saints in the Catholic Church.

The following excerpts are taken, with permission, from the daily devotional Tending the Temple by Kevin Vost, Peggy Bowes, and Shane Kapler. Kevin, Peggy and Shane are regular guests on such popular shows as Sonrise Morning Show on EWTN among others where they talk about health and fitness, Catholic style.

read full article here

Root Canals and Other Miracles

I so did not want a root canal and although I couldn't chew on the right side of my mouth for more than 6 months, I still patiently prayed for my miracle healing.

After all, I kept telling myself, “I am healed by the stripes of Christ.”

Am I right?

I’ve prayed for healing a lot over the past decade as I’ve suffered from chronic conditions that have often left me lying in bed for extended periods of time.

So it seemed like a miracle healing to avoid a root canal was a no-brainer. It wouldn’t take too much of God’s time and so would be a win-win for him and I. But no miracle healing arrived. In fact, quite to the contrary, my tooth got worse (go figure!).

I prayed for the intercession of St. Alena (toothaches are her specialty) and took homeopathic remedies.

Still nothing.

Finally I couldn’t put it off any longer and scheduled the dreaded root canal appointment.

That’s when my pleading changed; my definition of a miracle evolved.

I began to see that the fact that I could go get a root canal that would be—essentially—pain free was a miracle! Sure the roof-of-the-mouth shot hurt and the 2 ½ hour procedure was a bit exhausting and the throbbing after-root-canal procedure pain was there…but the fact remained that the root canal was a success and the pain wasn’t anything like, let’s say, having a tooth extracted a century ago.

Miracles abound.

I began to thank God for the miracle of being able to have a root canal. Crazy, right? Yes and no.

It occurred to me that we live our lives knee-deep in miracles—things we definitely take for granted can be moved in our minds from “expectations” to the “miraculous” and thus make us more grateful throughout our day.

And what I see as a miracle is probably way different than what you see as a miracle and that’s why we don’t really need to share them with each other; rather, the miracles we choose to see can be kept between ourselves and God and simply raise our spirits to him as they are filled with gratitude.

Who would have thought that a root canal was a miracle and an answer to prayer! Not me, that’s for sure.

Picture: ID 13250246 © Jaeeho | Dreamstime.com

The Fourteen Holy Helpers

August 8th is the Feast Day for The Fourteen Holy Helpers. It is a great time to call upon this powerhouse of heavenly help! You may know some of the line-up but some may be new to you.

Together they work wonders!

Read more about these saints.

Man Up! Fans

Fans of Jared Zimmerer's popular Man Up! Becoming the New Catholic Renaissance Man will be delighted to know that Jared's book Ten Commandments of Lifting Weights is now $2.99 on Kindle. 

Catholic blogger and speaker Brandon Vogt endorsed Man Up! and recently connected with Jared in a fun interview about Jared's "Strength for the Kingdom" ministry.