Archive for the ‘Monday Musings’ Category

We’re all in this together

By Maria Johnson • Aug 25th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

So the Olympics are over and all I have on my mind is chocolate. Bear with me, there’s a connection somewhere in the creamy rich goodness of this confection. Really. I promise!
While attending a birthday party last weekend,  I had the pleasure of sharing my love of chocolate with another reveler. I use that word [...]



Fire and Brimstone? Not so much.

By Maria Johnson • Aug 12th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

Every morning on my drive to work I get caught at the red light at a very busy intersection. It’s one of those lights that seem to be out of whack with the rest of the grid, so I feel as if an eternity passes before it changes. Forgive my hyperbole, but when I’m trying to [...]



Songs in the Key of Love

By Maria Johnson • Aug 3rd, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

One of our challenges as Catholics is to continue to grow in our faith. It is easy to fall into a comfortable rut of attending Mass and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation randomly, or just once a year, in short, operating at the minimum level. We don’t just shortshrift ourselves when we do that, we [...]



Time for Spiritual Refreshment

By Maria Johnson • Jul 28th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

I am posting this musing from the beautiful patio of a resort in Central Florida. I’m here on business, traveling alone.
At first I thought that it would be terribly boring to attend a professional conference by myself. The resort is exquisite and full of many wonderful amenities that are out of reach for me because [...]



Plan “B”

By Maria Johnson • Jul 21st, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

I went to work today with a very detailed plan to implement in my class. Although I teach college, my original training is in secondary education. Rather than having a content-driven background (I do anyway) I have a great deal of pedagogical training–that means that in addition to studying literature, I also studied how people [...]



Then there was light!

By Maria Johnson • Jul 7th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

We’ve had some very unusual weather this weekend. Thunderstorms threatened us for several days, interupting a recording I was making, and finally blowing out the transformer in front of my house, twice. Whoever said lightning doesn’t strike the same spot twice has never seen a transformer blow. Twice.   
As a result, I’m sitting in the dark [...]



Word of the Day: Gullywasher

By Maria Johnson • Jun 30th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

 
My husband calls those storms that come out of nowhere, rain hard and heavy, and then disappear, gullywashers. I claim cultural ignorance when he uses regionalisms and colloquialisms, so an explanation usually follows, and it is often more colorful than the expression itself.
Anyway, we had just such a gullywasher last evening.  A violent  storm [...]



One Body of Christ

By Maria Johnson • Jun 24th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

I love the Eucharistic Congress, but I’ve rarely made it to Adoration, and I’ve never heard one speaker. Instead, I hang around with other Rosary Army soldiers and work in the trenches. Let me tell you it’s dangerous work.
We go to execute our mission: Make them. Pray them. Give them away. Boy do we make [...]



A little Rolling Stones in the afternoon

By Maria Johnson • Jun 16th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

One of the things that I appreciate about being Catholic, besides the obvious theological points, is the unique world view that we have. We get the way things are. We can see the forest and the trees.
I know that sounds a little weird, or as I would write on a student’s essay, that is vague [...]



An Experiment in Gratitude

By Maria Johnson • May 19th, 2008 • Category: Monday Musings

I think that I have become sufficiently jaded by the internet, and blogging in particular, to thumb my nose at the memes and silliness that makes the rounds on the ‘net.
Suffice it to say I’ve been Rickrolled for the last time.
Now that I’ve finished all my blustering and posturing, I can admit that I will [...]