Become like a child...

Kids are so much better at joy in a carefree moment,
not fettered by worries or needing to be in total control.
Here my niece is filled with joy to have her stuffed fish.

Here I am unfettered by the cares and worries of life

on the day after my first Christmas. 

I pray for the grace to live in the moment like a child. 

Catholic Photo Challenge #5



Carefree Moments

My friends at L'arche taught me joy in a carefree moment, not fettered by worries or needing to be in total control.  There were struggles, but not a day went by without finding joy somewhere.  My heart was healed just by their simple acceptance of others, and the way they opened their home to me for six short months.

 

Catholic Photo Challenge #5

Dreams are Made of Joy


Joy over flows in South Sudan.  Joy is forever young.  Thanks for posting Cait!

Rainbow Fidelity



God's fidelity is multicolored, sometimes crisp and jaw dropping, sometimes a gentle reminder painted across the sky.  His fidelity always shines more brightly after a storm.  Catholic Photo Challenge #4.

Positively Powerful

Shawn Achor, a happiness expert and positive psychology researcher, says, "It's not necessarily reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world, that is what shapes your reality.  If we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, but we can change every single business and educational outcome at the same time.

 

"90% of your long term happiness is predicted, not by the external world, but by the way your brain processes the world.  75% of job successes are predicted by your optimism level, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge rather than a threat."

 

"We need to reverse the formula for happiness and success... If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage."

King of the Care Center

Sammy on the walker.  He's a therapy dog in our Care Center.  I think he's trying to identify with those who use a walker. 

He has been known to be very empathetic.  He will climb on the bed of sisters who are ill.  He visits every sister who comes home from a stay in the hospital, and he won't leave the deceased until the mortician comes to prepare her body. 

He's part beagle, part lab.  So sweet, but here I think he's waiting for a push. 

Sometimes he acts like a king.

Over 200+ Years of Fidelity

 This beautiful 200+ year old beechnut tree might just testify to the fidelity of God who has nurtured it and sustained it for all these years.  The same tree is pictured below, next to the four car garage (just to the right.)  It's a massively beautiful tree behind the convent.  Catholic Photo Challenge #4.

Fidelity to Prayer



This cross is located in El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico.  It's the final destination of the Pilgrimage for Vocations in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.  A 100 mile walk for vocations that was started in 1973. 

God's Fidelity



I've heard that traditionally Swans mate for life.  Often they represent fidelity.  Because of they I think they are a reflection in nature of God's fidelity to us.  Thankfully God's fidelity is purely perfect.  And the beauty of the swan is a living grace.  Catholic Photo Challenge #4.