“You really should write more.”
“So, what are you going to write next?”
“When you get around to writing again….”
[Cue decision paralysis, a fear of not having anything worth saying, grad school, engagement, moving to Chicago, teaching high school theology, getting MARRIED, a pandemic, having a BABY, and leaving teaching for the time being. All the while, gentle but unrelenting encouragement from my dad, my husband, and my friends nudged me back toward writing. Well, mostly gentle. My dad was pretty straightforward. Good work, Papa.]
Some disclaimers should be made: this blog definitely won’t be the best- edited blog you have ever read. I don’t know who will read it besides my husband and dad (and me obsessively as I edit posts #perfectionist). I overthink nearly everything and wonder how it will be received out of some intertwined combination of anxiety and pride; this hampers my writing speed.
I am verbose.
But, all caveats aside, in the midst of so many life changes and challenges, I am coming back to writing in the hopes that it will both ground me and serve as something beautiful for God, becoming a source of encouragement for all of you.
That leads me to the name and background inspiration: Our Sacrifice of Praise. Have you ever heard the song, “Oh God Beyond All Praising?” (If you haven’t, you should)
Here’s the last verse:
Then hear, O gracious Saviour,
accept the love we bring,
that we who know your favour
may serve you as our king;
and whether our tomorrows
be filled with good or ill,
we’ll triumph through our sorrows
and rise to bless you still:
to marvel at your beauty
and glory in your ways,
and make a joyful duty
our sacrifice of praise.
The entire verse declares my hope for this blog. Writing has, at various points of life, been something that has been both a gift for me and it seems that my writing has helped others. My primary way of loving right now (my vocation, how God has called out to me and how I serve Him in the lives of those around me) is supposed to be through the joys and crosses of life in marriage and parenthood. For a while, teaching deservedly filled the spot in my heart for a secondary vocation – another calling from God, though done at the service of my family. Now … well, now I’m not teaching, for the time being. Writing has called out again like a siren. I am hopeful that writing and online community will take some of that love that I poured into teaching.
Please, Lord, accept the love I bring!
We too often think of sacrifice with negative connotations, but Scripture and the Tradition give us a more rich understanding than an elementary gave-up-candy-for-Lent spirit. Psalm 51 speaks of the sinner’s sacrifice as a “humble and contrite heart.” Jesus preaches about how the widow’s two small coins are more valued because she is offering all that she has, rather than from her extra wealth (Luke 21). All over the Tradition (a topic for a later post, maybe!) we learn that one way of sacrifice is to offer to God what we have – what we are doing, who we are helping, how we are loving right now. (I’m thinking of Mother Teresa and Therese of Lisieux both, here)
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love”
Therese of Lisieux
So my “sacrifice of praise,” is offering God what I have while giving thanks for it; this can be my “joyful duty” — living out how God asks me to serve on a daily and hourly (11:45 pm.. 2 am… 3:14 am…4:45 am… when will this sleep regression stop, Dear Daughter?). And writing is a soul-nourishing joy for me; I hope that whatever is written on this blog may be for His service.
Finally, what re-introduction to the world of writing would be complete from moi without a proper “Lord of the Rings” reference? As I’ve encountered seasons and times of transition in life, I often step into the next chapter with this particular scene from “The Return of the King” in mind. Peregrine (Pippin) Took has been dashed away by Gandalf on the back of Shadowfax and has now arrived at the court of Denethor, the steward of Gondor, having made some pretty idiotic decisions which need not be mentioned here. Pippin is, rightly, forbidden to speak by Gandalf before entering the halls. Because he cannot keep his mouth shut and is foolhardy (he is, after all, a Took), but also because he has some sense of what has been lost, he steps forward to Denethor and offers “his service, such as it is” in “payment” of the debt of his life that he owes Denethor, as Boromir his son died defending Pippin and his friend Merry (who themselves were defending Frodo, but I digress). Although Denethor is the *W*O*R*S*T kind of lord imaginable to swear fealty to and this action has a whole host of consequences, the simple beauty of the offering stands. This is Pippin’s service, “such as it is.” It is not a life-for-a-life; it is more like the debtor in the Gospel who could not even begin to hope to pay back his debt and whose debt is then forgiven than anything else.
Accept Lord, my offering of my writing (which shares my heart, which is what You say You want, anyway) in payment of this debt – of my life, of my dreams, of the people and love you have shown to me.
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
The Suscipe (Ignatius of Loyola)
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
Welcome to the blog, my friends.
Our Sacrifice Of Praise 