My toddler is at that age where life is just hard. The golden age of never doing anything wrong is long past, and life for him is just one series of corrections, of being told what not to do, of being denied that which he wants most. Of course he is much too young to understand why we can't simply give in to every whim he has, and that our imposing of these limits are for his ultimate good. So like most two-year-olds, he navigates life in an almost perpetual state of frustration. There are two ways we can handle this: we can either become frustrated, a state we succumb to many times, or we can have sympathy on him. We can realize this is not an easy time for him, and do our best to love him through it. Sympathy for him does not mean we give him everything he wants. But it does mean that we have empathy and allow our love to guide him where he needs to be, rather than simply getting angry with him.
As the Family Goes
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Saturday, February 3, 2018
The Living Flame of Love - Chapter 1
Before I begin, let me just take a moment to say that I am not an expert in theology in any way. These thoughts are simply my own experience as I read through this work of St. John of the Cross.
I didn't so much choose this book as it chose me. I was intending on re-reading "Dark Night of the Soul," which I first read over five years ago, and thought I was buying a collection of his works. It turns out that this particular edition was just one book, "The Living Flame of Love," and his minor works (poetry, letters, etc.) But once I cracked open the first page I realized that the Lord intended for me to read it, and I have been drawn in. St. John of the Cross is famous for his poetry, and I'm not sure if all of his works follow the same format, but "Dark Night" and this one begin each chapter with a stanza of his poetry, and expand on that in the chapter. So my study of this book begins with the first stanza of his poem:
Oh living flame of love!
That woundest tenderly
My soul in its inmost depth
As though art no longer grievous
Perfect thy work, if it be thy will
Break the web of this sweet encounter
I didn't so much choose this book as it chose me. I was intending on re-reading "Dark Night of the Soul," which I first read over five years ago, and thought I was buying a collection of his works. It turns out that this particular edition was just one book, "The Living Flame of Love," and his minor works (poetry, letters, etc.) But once I cracked open the first page I realized that the Lord intended for me to read it, and I have been drawn in. St. John of the Cross is famous for his poetry, and I'm not sure if all of his works follow the same format, but "Dark Night" and this one begin each chapter with a stanza of his poetry, and expand on that in the chapter. So my study of this book begins with the first stanza of his poem:
Oh living flame of love!
That woundest tenderly
My soul in its inmost depth
As though art no longer grievous
Perfect thy work, if it be thy will
Break the web of this sweet encounter
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