I'm by no means a scripture scholar and do not claim to be, but I really, really love Hannah and just wanted to share her with you. #terrified
The first meaningful conversation I had with a teenager was on the veiled dais in the Department of Mysteries. In fact, I may have escaped the story of Harry Potter completely without falling in love with it, if it weren't for Chapter 35 of the saddest book I've ever read, The Order of the Phoenix.
Growing up, my family affectionately called me Donut Girl. My dad used to take us for donuts every Saturday morning and, well, I guess I liked them even more than everyone else. I love myself a white sprinkle donut. Just look at him - isn't that perfection?! So when Fr. Jon Seda shared the following analogy with us this weekend, it just clicked: "God is like a donut. The sacraments are like the frosting and we are the sprinkles. We need the Church in order to stay on the donut." Everything has come full circle in my life. All puns intended. Sometimes we are too lazy to pray. Sometimes we're too ashamed. Lent has a way of showing us what's under the rock and why, exactly, it was so difficult for us to maintain a daily prayer routine before. For the last five years, it's been common place for me to begin prayer and wish I had a Pensieve to siphon off a lot of negative self-talk before I can focus. Who haunts you? A memory from the day? Your worst critic? The health of one of your parents? Your concern that you'll never be married? The voice of doubt isn't from God. It may be human nature but it wasn't always that way... not before the first time someone told us we were naked.
My first thoughts when I first heard the song Stay High by Tove-Lo were (in chronological order): 1) This reminds me of my relationship with sugar. 2) It also reminds me of my relationship with God. That’s weird. 3) I could really go for a donut right now. I'm assuming you've heard the song - don't YouTube it. The video is awful and the remixes aren't much better. You have to find a very toned down cover to get away from the raunchy lyrics. Even so, Stay High could be the spiritual anthem for many people I know. I know it seems like it's about one night stands and drugs. Jesus knows it's deeper. We're all trying to stay high, regardless of our addiction. We're all trying to feel good, to get by, to distract ourselves from disappointment. This isn't always unhealthy - to get our mind off of what we can't change - but sometimes we turn from something bad.... only to turn to something worse. |