“Rejoice every time you discover a new imperfection,” suggested the eighteenth-century Jesuit spiritual director Jean-Pierre Caussade. If we find ourselves getting impatient, Caussade counseled, we can try to bear our impatience patiently. If we loose our tranquility, we can endure that loss tranquilly. If we get angry, we ought not get angry with ourselves for getting angry… [and if we are waiting passively, we can try to wait passively without being too hard on ourselves about it]

…above all, don’t fight the truth of yourself. The self “comes clean” when it is most exposed, most vulnerable to its own imperfections… [See? You're already doing the hard work. Nothing passive about the self examination you're doing here.]

…in weakness, strength is discovered; in wretchedness, joy; in the “abyss of nothingness,” “the fruit of grace.” And so we need not escape ourselves to find peace or joy, for while spirituality is always beyond, it is discovered first within.

(That’s from The Spirituality of Imperfection, which I swear I will stop trying to cram down your throat. It’s just that I started reading it again and I love it so much!)

Thank you

Stupid October. But I like the red maple seeds and the blue water bottle.

Definitely you’re getting warmer. No, you bring it.