Rings, a link to the past. Being sentimental.

Recently I managed to remove both my rings from my hands. I had never removed them since I got engaged, then married, had 3 kids and my fingers just grew with them stuck on. I went through a couple of stays in the hospital where the doctors and nurses gave up on attempts to remove them as they just could not come off.
For so long, I kept wondering how I could remove them (for fear that the skin beneath was unhealthy) until a simple solution presented itself as in metal cutters. Finally I'm free of  my engagement and wedding bands.

My mum thinks I should just trade it in for new pieces. But they have sentimental value to me in spite of the fact that they are no longer relevant to my status and the cause for painful memories.

For me, they represent both good and bad, at least 75% of the outcome is positive and the 25% is bad that is mostly the EX; so why not keep it. The good being the kids and the
learnings that have come out of that life.
Both are cut , broken in a way which is an apt reflection.
In the eyes of God(Catholic church) I am still married, legally a different story. How the church makes me feel about it, is another story for another day.

I'll hold  on to them. Just buy new ones for my naked fingers.

God is great, he's wonderful

Did I not know he was there before?
That's because I was looking but did not see.
It's been 4 years or so now, life has happened
and I am grateful.
I have a job still in this terribly terribly unstable
and roller coaster economy,
the love of family who stand by me
and friends who share their ears and hearts with me.

He asks little from  us, but gives us so much
yet half the time we think and feel
it's not nearly enough, and we're never contented.

Weather 's hot but not that crazy.
The plants are still green and flowering.
The children will still moan and groan,
and I will still nag and push
but that's life.
I like quiet but I also miss the noise.

Is that how we're made, to live with noise and silence;  to have one and sometimes we must have the other. Extremes and boredom keep us afloat and living.

In spite of everything that has happened , I know I am blessed.
It doesn't matter how anyone else judges.
I don't aim for perfect, just better than OK.

God will still love us inspite of our chaos and continue to be our guide even if I don't see the driver.

Thinking about Forgiving, not the Forgetting

"Evil can be undone, but it cannot develop into good. Time does not heal it." C S Lewis
In Lewis interpretation, you have to go back to the beginning and do it all over again to see the error of your ways.

One of the things to do to be at peace is to forgive.
Could my ex have been saved, converted, changed ?

I kept thinking about that and then recently I heard a homily about how we should pray. In summary, the implication was leave it in God's hands, ask for help for a person or with a situation when you pray BUT don't direct God.

And so I thought of my situation, I didn't direct God, I asked for help to solve the unrest and distress.
And the answer as it had unfolded gives me my answer to my question.
If it could be done, it would have come to pass and so the answer I believe is no.

God intervenes when we need him and when it's beyond our control but not when we can do it our self, be it easy or hard. We need to know when to give up and when to persevere.

-Reviewing
My children are older, not necessarily wiser. Now I worry if one of my sons is turning into a replica of is father. ..a question of nature of nurture.  Awareness is not enough.
Praying and trusting in God is all have. I don't intend to live that way again.
May God have mercy.