A Walk with Grace

Walk with me for a moment so I can bring you up to speed….

You’ve been following my latest “Fun Facts”, watching vGodly videos and maybe even reading a blog or two. Maybe you skimmed through the “this is me – hello” page and got a glimpse of who this ageless wonder is. But, do you know how this baby blogger got here?

All jokes aside, I am a Catholic woman, mom, sister and daughter on a 24/7 journey. This is my defining moment. And once I figured that out; I came running to you to tell you all about it.  And was it that simple? Yes and no. I’m here to tell you that it’s never too late to come home; He is waiting for you. The road was long; but, once I saw that window of opportunity, I grabbed it and never looked back. Since then, it really has been as easy as 1, 2, 3.

You see, life is really all about timing: love, marriage, kids, work, life in general. Wrong place, wrong time and the reverse. Those “antennas” must be up and ready to hear His whisper. It took me decades to figure that out and tune in. But here I am now; ready to share.

I’m a cradle Catholic and this is going to be a long story so get comfy, pull up a blanket and stick around. Don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz at the end; but, something I say may just resonate with you… is my secret wish.

I was brought up in the Church, went to mass on Sundays, Catholic school at times, sacraments, saw my grandmother praying the rosary. You know, the usual. But, to be honest it wasn’t what defined me. As a precocious child, I barely asked myself “what would mom say” when making choices – so you can imagine that I never really thought about the commandments as my soul ‘s road map. I mean, I didn’t steal, for example, because of my moral compass – it just wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t asking myself “what would God think”. I was just making it up as I went along.

And I prayed. Yes, I prayed – mostly, when I needed a good grade, when I had a crush on a boy or when I didn’t want to get grounded.  Let’s be honest here – being Catholic wasn’t all that fun, so to speak. Not like my protestant friends with their Bible Study and Lock-ins. Those kids could recite Bible verses as well as I knew the lyrics to “Jack and Diane”. But hey, back in the day – we Catholics didn’t even have a Bible at home. We were raised to believe we weren’t smart enough to interpret His word – is why we had Priests, Nuns, Catechism.  And if asked, “why do Catholics x y z” we were to answer, “because that is how we always have done it.” Not to get off track here but those days have long gone. It truly is the dawn of a new Church if you ask me.  I’ll expand on that at another time.

So, those were the very early years. What followed was time spent drifting in and out of the Church without a real emotional connection, but a ton of faith, thank God. I was going through the motions, as many do. In the end, I have my parents to thank. They laid a solid Catholic foundation that would one day serve me well, many years later.

Sound familiar?

I hope so.

Stay tuned.