A 17th Wedding Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our 17^th anniversary earlier this month.  That particular day, a Saturday, was extremely busy for our family.   We realized a week before the anniversary that we would have little time for just “us”. 

This type of “celebration” seems particularly appropriate for this time in our lives.  While our marriage is the foundation of all that we do, right now, little of our “doing” is for each other.  Our lives are more about taking care of our son and my husband’s mom than it is about the two of us. Four years from now, our son will be in college and we can do whatever we want on our anniversary.  (I’m thinking a European Cruise might be in the mix!) 

The morning of our anniversary, we attended our son’s first high school football game and brought my mother- in- law with us. We cleaned house and did some volunteer work, ending the day with a family dinner. 

It has always been my mindset that our wedding anniversary is a private celebration -something that only the two of us celebrate.  And this being the 17^th year, it was not an “important” anniversary (I don’t ever know if there is a suggested gift for seventeen).
That mindset changed this year.  We did receive an extraordinary number of anniversary greetings from family and friends.  With each greeting, I thought, “Our anniversary is only for us.” 

My thought changed as I was reading magazine covers in the grocery store.  Some make known the steps to plan a perfect wedding.  Others claim to know the inside workings of celebrity marriage.  Wearing the right clothes, having a picture perfect physique and a beautiful home are all keys to success, according to various tabloids.  Not one mentions our spiritual side, that giving is better than receiving or that God will meet all of our needs.

Perhaps, I thought, this anniversary does not just mark the 17^th celebration of the day we committed our lives to each other. Our marriage is not simply the celebration of our love for each other, but for the union of our lives, with Christ, in the sacrament of marriage.  

Our anniversary doesn’t just belong to us.  It is our public proclamation of our love for each other and our commitment to our union until death.  My husband and I can give thanks to God for bringing us together.  We can be an example of living marriage as a sacrament.  While being married for 17 years is not a record, it is something worth celebrating - publically!

Give us this day our daily bread

Give us this day our daily bread

It’s dark and quiet at 5:43 in the morning as I begin to write this entry. I light a candle, not to see, but for comfort.  I awoke a little after five this morning with thoughts racing through my head about what I didn’t do yesterday and how much I have to do today.  After the third attempt to shut off that annoying tape, that is only adding anxiety to my life, I rolled over and picked up my smart phone. 

“Catholic Daily Office” I typed into the browser and found the invitatory psalm for today.  I love the way this prayer cycle opens, “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise.”  What a suitable way to being any day, especially today! 

It is September, and any mom will tell you that these first two months of the school year are filled with frantic activity.  Additionally, I have new clients and as much work as I can handle.  Yesterday, I had five business meetings in five different places, and ended the day with a school parent’s meeting.  My weekly “to do” list is over 70 items, none of which I completed yesterday.  My meetings only added to my work.  In addition, in the business of yesterday, I didn’t feel in touch with God.  I haven’t written an entry to this blog in over two weeks.  Thus, my anxiousness with the dawn of another day.

I read the Psalms, searching for words that will draw me closer to God and relieve my anxiety.  As I read Psalm 62, I focus on “my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you.” Later in the same Psalm I read, “My soul clings to you; your right hand raises me up.”  That’s good stuff, but not what I need to quiet the apprehension for the day.

At the end of the set of prayers, I say the “Our Father”.  I say it again, because as I ended it, I realized that I only repeated it, not prayed it.  Then a third time, focusing on each word.  The words are as if they are being whispered into my ear.  “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Oh yes, what I need from God is for today and only today.  It is not to complete all of the things on my to-do list, solve all of my client’s problems or even clean every room in my house.  But to be present with my family today, to give excellent service to my clients, to praise and worship my God and to be Him to those I meet. 

“Give us this day our daily bread,” is such a powerful phrase, but so commonly repeated that it can lose its authority and strength.  Let this me my mantra for today, O Lord.

It’s now 6:58 am and the sun is up.  As I’ve pondered my morning prayer and written this piece, my family has drifted in and out of the room.  It’s time to begin the activity of the day, remembering that I need only focus on today and ask for “our daily bread”.