Christ, Coffee, and Cornfields

 I have always had a really hard time with capital punishment. For many years, I thought that it was perfectly acceptable to have the death penalty to end a terrible person's life. A life for a life mathematically makes sense; it's a price to pay. But then South Dakota executed a prison inmate yesterday. When this situation arises so close to home, it makes you think more in depth about it.  It took quite a while for me to change my viewpoint on the death penalty. I am no stranger to politics or law, so looking at capital punishment from a justice viewpoint makes sense to me. The judicial system doesn't have feelings; it relies on facts and on what is "fair". Now, as a Catholic I have the Church's (and so the Lord's) view on the death penalty to take into consideration. The CCC says this: (2267) "Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude rec...

  Life is a fascinating thing. I think what makes it so is the unpredictability, the moments and times that throw us for a loop or catch us off guard. It's especially interesting to reflect on times of trial. My life over the last few months has certainly been tumultuous. Lots of things have been going on and taking place that haven't been very good. However, as I'm sitting in this difficult period and thinking and praying about it all, I have noticed two key things.   1) The good things in life are made better when they come during times of struggle. Think about this: do we appreciate the beauty of a single flower more when it's in a blooming garden or when it's surrounded by weeds and thorns? A single rose is far more alluring when it is the only one on a thorn bush than when it's in a bouquet.   The program I'm in required that I take a class which I wasn't very happy about taking. It met 8 hours a week and easily had another 5 in outside work to...

 Awhile back, my mom and I went to a workshop on charisms. Many people are unfamiliar with that term, so I'll explain! Charisms are basically gifts that God has given you that help you to serve Him and others in the best, most efficient way possible. When exercising your charisms, it gives you energy and happiness! That's the short version.  I've been thinking about life quite a bit lately. As a young adult, I haven't quite figured out where I am supposed to be headed. The topic of charisms popped into my head today and kinda stuck. Here's my thought:  God gave us gifts for a reason. If we recognize those gifts and follow them, our life will be headed in the direction God planned for it to go.  I'll give an example. Personally, I know one of my charisms is writing. It's a gift that God gave to me and I love love love to do it! I love writing just to write or to get my thoughts out. I really love to help, encourage, and guide people through my writing. ...

    I have been blessed (or cursed?) with the ability to vividly recall many of my dreams, even years after dreaming them. Sometimes they are the good, exciting dreams, but most often they tend to be my nightmares. My most recent nightmare happened this weekend and involved me getting mortally injured and the intense need to say goodbye to my family. The thing is, I never died. I kept going to different places to find different family members, all the while dying, but never actually passing away. The same night I had another dream. A murderer was after me, and I was dying in that one, too. This time, the murderer killed someone else and I managed to get away, but still dying. Needless to say, I woke up having cried in my sleep and having gotten no rest that night.   I watched an episode of my favorite TV show last night, and at the very end, one of my top 3 favorite characters in the show died. His wife had just given birth to their first child and he was on his way to ...