The days are so full of wonder and awe which adds to the beauty of the Notre Dame campus. Days unfold to bring gifts of unexpectedness. Just waking up this morning was a gift because we awoke without an alarm because the sun was shining in. We have woken up to clouds and rain each day so the sun was unexpected. As if God was nudging us to awake for this wonderful day. Almost like a parent on a child’s birthday, God has special surprises planned for the day, and me, the child sits in anxious anticipation for what is to come.

This morning was just that. It was, Lord, we can’t wait to see what you have planned for us today! The lesson from this is to be aware like this ALWAYS! Yes, Notre Dame is a special place but this same sense of wonder and awe comes from within us…it can come home with us.

Yesterday’s classes with Terry Nelson-Johnson were “heavy” with emotion, then we had a reconciliation service. Today the schedule is more leisurely.

We were excited for today because we planned to hear the “Stephanie” talk. Each year, the kids get to hear her and they say she is their favorite. We’ve never gotten to attend and this year…YES! She talks about God’s love in a very real and powerful way. She shared how people put us into boxes by putting us down or building us up. It was very well done.

I enjoyed her because I recently have been discovering I had been put in a box by my job title and not without a job, I am rediscovering who I am. The same goes for the box of expectation that I had been put in at work, both from work (keeping track of office hours, vacation, etc) and how I was supposed to be so I wouldn’t be judged. I recently realized I did things, or rather didn’t do things so to give anymore ammunition to those who derived joy from throwing stones at me.

The other thing I took from Stephanie’s talk or I related to, was the story of the woodsmith and the widgets he created. It is the book, “I am Loved” by Tommie DePola. What has stuck with me is that the good things and the bad things in our lives only matter if we allow them to have control enough to matter. The story is that people give you star stickers or dot stickers depending on good or bad. One of the widgets had no stickers, good or bad. This is the state of being I feel I am in at this point in my life. I have realized, through my lived experience, that those stickers represent not only good and bad (as others see it) but it gives others control and power. I choose Christ to have that power and control.