Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Signs of the Time

(For Hallie)

I need to post a picture soon of my fantastically large belly and the fantastically large circles under my eyes.

Ms. Mexican Jumping Bean now regularly starts to hat dance inside my womb at 10 PM, 12:30 AM, 3:30 AM and 6:30 AM.

So far, I've managed to stay fairly cheerful about the whole lack of sleep thing. When I prowl around the house at night, unable to go back to sleep I think "Well, why should I start sleeping through the night now? A newborn baby is entering my home in less than 28 days!"

When my Carmel magazine arrived this month, the cover had a picture of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity in her death mask. In the old photograph, Elizabeth is pale and wasted in her coffin, surrounded by lilies. The dark shadows under her eyes are so large that they reach past the end of her nose.

My exact thoughts when I saw this photo are as follows: "Wow, Elizabeth of the Trinity and I have the same brown circles under our eyes! I can't match her faith in anything important, but at least I can match her face in this one small matter!"

Ahh! Exhaustion in our service to God. One lady surfed her trials to became a saint. Another tired Secular Carmelite managed to knock a whole 35 seconds off her future time in purgatory!

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for us!