On Monday night, my community combined Spirituality Night with a Simple Living challenge. After dinner was prepared, we each lit a candle and turned off all the lights in our house. For two hours, we spent time individually in silence, beginning with dinner together and then moving into our own space in the house. The exercise was meant to have a dual purpose: first, to increase awareness of the amount of electricity that we use in the house each day. Our power usage isn’t anything extravagant; we hardly watch TV and don’t leave things plugged in or turned on all the time. However, we absolutely take it for granted! When blackout/silent time was over, we gathered for reflection. John shared some research that he had done on our usage of electricity as a country versus other countries in the world. The numbers for the US, especially compared to developing countries, were staggering. Of course this is not news to us, but the very tangible exercise was impactful.
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| We bought a house set of these awesome candles at the dollar store! |
The second purpose of the exercise was to give each of us silent time and space to reflect or simply have “alone time” after a busy weekend. Personally, I used the time to catch up on some journaling and pray the Rosary. I can’t remember the last time I did that, and so I was grateful to find a little pamphlet from CCD that explained all the mysteries and meditations. So, by the flickering light of my newly purchased Our Lady of Guadalupe candle, I gave it a shot!
When time was up, I was intrigued to hear everyone’s reactions. We had a really good discussion, and decided to put together a grab-bag for future simple living challenges. We brainstormed about 10 ideas and drew one from a small bag for next week. Stay tuned to find out what we’re doing!
On Tuesday, we had planned to watch the season premiere of Glee together, but unfortunately, technology foiled our plans. Our quirky TV doesn’t flip to channel 11 on its own – it gets is lost somewhere between 9 and 13. And of course, the very fickle remote control to our converter box chose not to help us out. We settled instead on the season premiere of Biggest Loser. I can’t believe I actually made it through the whole hour. No offense to any fans, but I find most reality shows like that beyond ridiculous. Luckily, Glee is online and I thoroughly enjoyed homemade cookies (thanks, Mom!) while watching Biggest Loser (ironic?), so it wasn’t a total waste of time!
On Wednesday night, Julie and I drove over to the USC Catholic Center for adoration. Like the Rosary, adoration is an exercise that I had only tried once or twice before. I jumped at the opportunity to go, and was grateful that Julie knew the drill, if you will. The service was really simple and beautiful. There was a little bit of music at the beginning and in the middle, and about 4 short readings throughout the hour that the Eucharist was exposed. I enjoyed the silence and the sanctity of the environment, and the fact that we were among peers. I would definitely go back! One of my hopes for this year was to explore new/different spiritual and religious practices, to stretch myself beyond what I became comfortable with while at BC, so that I may continue to challenge myself. Spending a lot of time in prayerful silence this week was definitely a challenge, but something that I really enjoyed. Tonight, Zach, Julie, and I crashed the USC Catholic Center’s first Community Dinner (free food? We’re there!) We met the priest and a few people on the campus ministry team. They were great – so welcoming and excited that we found them. They invited us to join any of their events, services, and groups while we are in the area.
Meanwhile, work this week has not been quite as peaceful as the evenings. I’m fairly certain that the full moon this week is making the kids wild. At the end of a couple days this week, I found myself a bit frustrated. The kids are, and will continue to be, a true test of my patience. Today was better though; everyone was a bit more mellow than usual and there was no paint squirted on my classroom floor! The frustrating moments many be frequent, like when a I find sequins glued to the floor or a kid opens the door to every single locker in the hallway or the no one seems to listen when I speak. However, I hope to find the beauty in moments like this one:
On Monday, a precious 1st grader asked me for a worksheet to color. He started coloring a soccer player in a yellow jersey, then asked me for a crayon that he could use to make her “look real.” I wasn’t sure what he was asking, so I probed. He said, “I want her to look like a real person.” My response: “Oh, for her skin?” He nods. Me: “Well, what color would you use to make her look like you?” He shrugs. Me: “Hmm, why don’t we look for some colors. You could use pink to make her look like me, or tan to look like you, or brown or green or blue or purple or orange! People can be all kinds of colors, right?” He smiles, sifting through big bags of crayons. [Sidenote: I have told more than a few kids that my skin is pink when they ask…it always gets a giggle and after running around outside it’s usually true. The nickname Rosie didn’t come from nowhere!] He finally settles on an apricot color, which doesn’t look much like his tan Hispanic skin, but I let it fly. The next day, I was sorting through a box of donated art supplies and came across the 10 “Multicultural” boxes of crayons. I laughed out loud at the irony, and said a prayer for a teachable moment the next time we color. I was so fascinated by the array of colors (white, peach, sepia, black, mahogany, burnt sienna, tan, apricot…in case you were wondering) that I took a picture! Naturally I think 8 colors is a bit limiting, but I guess I could take that up with Crayola.
Two other quick highlights from this week:
On Tuesday, I crashed a BC information session in the college guidance office at the Verb! It was neat to hear the 45-minute presentation, especially after having lived the 4 year experience. Also, today there was a mass at the Verb said by the California Provincial of the Jesuits – the same priest who said our JVC missioning mass. It was neat to see the students in action – the all boys choir, the JEDIS (the student campus ministry team: Jesuit Educated Disciples In Service) skits, and the student body/staff all gathered together. Overall, another good week! Thanks for following along!
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