— 1 —   This Week’s Post:   A Sacramental Life In Christ.  This post was long overdue and it felt good to finally capture all the beautiful ways Christ gives us to share in His own divine life.

— 2 —  Tardy Today:  My 7QTs are very tardy today because we were out late last night (9:00pm!) and we had to work today. Since I have committed to not working on blog stuff at work and because the home/family life was crammed this week, I am working on these 7 nuggets after work on Friday.  I will be way down in the 100’s on Jen’s linky-links this week!

 —3 —   Not Alone Series: This week’s topic was Surviving Events/Parties as a Singleton.  As usual, the NAS girls provided great suggestions on this topic.  One suggestion by Nikki was to “Help, be of service.”  Now, your response may be, “Hey, I am a guest at the party.  Just because I am single does not mean I have to always play the servant.”  I understand this response but please stay with me on this.  I would often ask the hostess if she would like me to show up early and help set up. That way, I would avoid the whole walking-in-by-myself-feeling-like-everyone-is-staring-at-single-me thing.  I would have a role at the party instead of feeling out-of-place and awkward.  The beauty of this advice?  It is strategic and kind to be of service.

— 4 —  Spotlight On #1:  This week’s spotlight #1 is on Allie Millette for her guest post over at the Life In The Gap blog.  You remember Allie, right?  She provided a wildly popular guest post for me back in October called “Friending.”  Her latest guest post, It Starts At Home, is especially poignant for those of us who have struggled or are struggling to give ourselves a break.  Tissue time.

“…but at the end of the day, what’s done is done and the only thing left to do is look in the mirror and say I love you, I’m sorry for abandoning you, and I forgive you. After all, how can we honestly expect for others to accept our offers of forgiveness when we can’t even face forgiving ourselves?…”

— 5 —     Spotlight On #2: Spotlight #2 is on Ann from A Holy Experience for her post about public proposals and Redefining Boring.  Personally, I think the public proposal thing is tacky. I know you girls think it is romantic but as an older gal may I please share with you that sometimes the biggest shows of love and commitment end up being the most fake and fragile.  I am not wishing bad on any of the couples who get engaged as a result of a huge public proposal.  I just cringe when I see these outlandish public proposals on Facebook because I feel concerned that an expectation is being placed in your hearts. Please, please read this woman’s blog post and embrace the boring.  I pray it helps you to raise and lower your expectations in the right areas of marriage and romance.

 “…How a man proposes isn’t what makes him romantic. It’s how a man proposes to lay down his life that makes him romantic.”  Ann

— 6 —   Anyone Need to Forgive an Ex-Boyfriend?  Hopefully, you still have the tissues out from Allie’s post because this post from The Evangelista is a tear jerker.  

“…Things were getting intense in that classroom. At this point, I was in tears, but I already felt as if a huge weight had been lifted. God’s grace was working in a powerful way. But then, Fr. James surprised me by going in an unexpected direction: he told me that we were going to do the exercise again, but that instead of imagining my ex-boyfriend in the chair opposite me, he told me I imagine that I was looking into a mirror. 

“Christina, I want you to look at the girl in the mirror. You’re angry at her aren’t you?”

[Tearfully] “Yes.”

“You’re even angrier at her than you are at your ex-boyfriend, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” 

— 7 —Virgin and Martyr:  St. Cecilia, pray for us! Today is her feast day!    

God love and bless you!

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