It's the third week of Lent and this is my first post for a Pause in Lent.
Angela had suggested the Cardinal Virtues as a focus for these Pauses and reading through other contributors I am relieved to see that people are taking the interpretation quite liberally. Phew!
The list is truly inspiring:-
Valour
Generosity
Liberality
Diligence
Patience
Kindness
Humility
This core list is work of many of the great minds of the Church, and if we could all live by these virtues wouldn't the world be a better place? So I want to think about the challenges I personally have in putting these virtues into practise.
On the surface many of them appear simple and straight forward.
I like to think that I am someone who demonstrates patience, kindness, generosity, and liberality. That I do try to be diligent and to show valour.
However I believe that humility is perhaps the most challenging of the virtues for me. The very act of blogging demonstrates this. Do I need to post recipes and snapshots of my life, is that modest? Or am I clamouring for attention? Shouting "Look at me, Look at me!"
I really don't know the answer. On one hand to share knowledge and simple delight in the world is a good thing, but perhaps to pursue humility I need to move the focus from "me" to "us".
I am going to try think of "us" being the whole world, rather then my immediate circle of family or friends, so that means mentioning Fairtrade goods whenever I use them in my cooking and looking for opportunities to highlight the work of charities.
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Here are a couple of everyday photographs. What could be simpler or more enjoyable then feeding the ducks at the pond?
We had a bag of stale bread, and after Mass on Sunday, walked to the pond and fed not only the ducks, but the swans and geese too.
How interesting - is blogging humble, or quite the opposite? I think it's just another way of expressing ourselves, so it will be just as humble (or not) as the rest of someone's life. Honesty is one of the key things, isn't it? So many readers go through a phase of thinking that every blog portrays a genuinely perfect life/home/existence and it's important to counter that with the occasional bit of imperfection, I guess. I'll be interested to see what others think! Thanks very much for this post.
ReplyDeleteI've been struggling with this recently. I hate it if we become just "show & tell" so try to keep my blog varied & pretty random but sometimes we do want to show and tell ! I'd hate to think I was self congratulating as I am far far from it.
ReplyDeleteI've had a few comments recently which have left me feeling unsettled - that some think I lead such a wonderful life - maybe they weren't there for the odd post on depression / illness !
I've been planning a post on this very subject ! So thank you for your interesting post !
Wonderful post, dear Jude.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think about this often..why do we blog?? One finds as many answers as there are bloggers, but one of the strongest reasons is the connections, the friendships that are made. That alone (in my humble opinion) ;) makes it all worthwhile. I love the idea of the world becoming smaller as I correspond with wonderful people like yourself in Britain and France, in Australia, Holland, Hungary...the list goes on. It's quite magical really.
And I am SO GLAD that you blog, sweet Judy! I learn so much from you, and I really love seeing all of your photos...you are kind, talented, fun, and humble!
Have a terrific weekend,
xoxo,
- Irina