O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.
- Prayer of St. Ephrem

I was thinking the other day about this prayer and how easily I find myself with the spirit of despair over the smallest inconveniences. Then I realized that there are Orthodox Christians in Japan saying this very same prayer this Lent, people who are facing great difficulty and tragedy are asking God to take from them the spirit of despair. Lord have mercy.
I realize, in Christ, I have nothing to despair of, and to think of everything else I have how can I not be thankful?
So, I've given myself an assignment because it's the only way I am ever going to blog again. For the next few weeks I will be posting one picture of day of something that brings me joy. Perhaps, I will be inspired to write a little something or maybe it will just be a picture.

My Joy

Day One


The 11 years I've been married to this guy. We celebrated our anniversary a couple weeks ago with our annual family trip to Big Bear.