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remember to keep holy the sabbath and other thoughts

remember to keep holy the sabbath and other thoughts

having decided that there was a reason getting stuff done on Sunday afternoons was impossible, I decided to give up trying and to keep holy the sabbath. Give the day to God and try to pick up the slack on other days. (not that that really works, but I know there’s a reason we have a day of rest.) Anyway, having decided that, I am now trying to dedicate my Sundays to long phone calls to family and to crafty projects for other people.
Yesterday I decided to see how much of Josh’s quilt I could finish and to keep my company while I stitched I popped in the Naked Without Shame cds that dad sent. Perfect solution to books on tape. Now I’ll have motivation to work on my other crafty projects.
So there I was, in the cushy yellow chair that I pulled off the curb, covered in blue Indian bedspreads so the gash in the back and the threadbare arms don’t show, with my pincushion near at hand and my big orange scissors, my little needle stabbing my fingertips full of holes, and an amazing lecture that might just have changed my life. I think I listened to the first three cds, couldn’t turn it off. I finished the quilt just as it was time to grab dinner and get my stuff together for confirmation class. Rush to pull it all together and get out the door on time and then got there and couldn’t find the lecture notes. had to come back home. The class was ok. Good start but then got derailed. Figures. Try to talk chastity with fifteen year olds. But I was inspired by the lecture to start off with genesis and I think it worked for the most part. Hard without Dom to rein them in when they started firing questions. I really liked Sue’s story about the girl who had the stroke, brought the point home more than my stats.
I don’t know why I was so shocked at the attitude: I just want two kids no more. As Dom said you have to look at their families. Not a single kid there with more than 2 siblings. It’s the parents. I wanted to bring Evy in, I recall her stories about the women who are shocked at big families. I think of the girls I met this summer from families with 10 or 12 kids. Which one would you give up? How to recover that sense of joy for these kids when all they can think of is being deprived of stuff. Material goods won’t make you happy.
I tried to get work done but after long talk in the car with Dom I was very distracted. Just wanted to sleep. Was almost there when I recalled a few things that HAD to be done. So it was about 11, 11:30 when I finally turned out the lights.
It was probably mostly the decongestant but I woke up at 4, going over the stuff from the cds in my head, trying to form them into a lecture for the confirmation class. All the stuff I wish I had got to, what I want to do next time. I realized I’d been laying there half awake for an hour, running it over and over in that annoying loop that my brain seems to go into when I try to sleep on decongestants. But then I thought: Ok, God, are you speaking? Am I supposed to be hearing something now? I got up and turned on the light, grabbed my notebook and wrote it all down. Get it out of my head, save it on paper for next week. All the good stuff.
And then I pulled out the breviary and prayed the Office. Might as well at 5 am. If I can’t sleep then I can get a start on the day. nd I prayed so deep. I can’t explain, but I’ve never meant the words that completely. Like the floodgates were open. I was an open channel. A rush right through me. Amazing. The sense of peace, rightness. It was really a conversation. I was speaking and He was there. And calm. peace.
But I knew it was a long day ahead so after that was over I turned out the lights and pulled up the quilts and rolled over. But then the tears of thankfulness came: Abba, Daddy I love you, thank you for this gift. And so much more. But those moments can’t last. and I knew it wouldn’t.
I cried and then sleep took me. I got up easy, though. So much better without the alarm clock. Since I stopped using it last week mornings are much less pain, more joy. I feel more awake, alive. Don’t fall asleep in the Office. I guess not interrupting the natural rhythm. Why does the clock always sound during REM?
So I got up and made a smoothie, shivered through morning prayer.
mass. school. I read papers, met with students, it was all good.
Comp was good. I had them freewrite about grading: criteria for A, B, C, etc.
Then group work, compare notes, come to consensus.
Then as a group we did a rubric on the board.
Pretty complete.
Didn’t mention audience awareness or revision. But good understanding. Frustrating how Vetto is so on top of these things and yet can’t get his papers in. I don’t want him to leave. Don’t know if I can believe his story about going to the DR for uncle’s funeral who was murdered. But he can’t really be faking it. He does say smart things in class.
I thought the exercise went better than I hoped.
hopefully it will make the grades a little easier to bear. I hope they all come to speak to me about their papers. At least I was able to sooth Kevin a bit and give him some pointers toward revision. And that’s really the point.
I hope I can do the same for the rest.
I don’t want the D to be discouraging, but I do want it to be a goad. Make them revise. And better early, last semester I didn’t pull it out until too late, frustrated. Too late in the semester to encourage.
I should have specified that grades under C need to be revised.
Well I can still do that on Wed.
Hope there isn’t too much snow tomorrow. How much more snow can we get? I wonder if it’s even started. Supposed to be 8-12 inches. Or maybe 18.
I do love the snow, though. Don’t want to be too scroogish. If only it didn’t mess with my classes.

 

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