Journal of John Bouc

Summer warmth leads to winter cold. One season of nature arrives as the other slowly fades. Likewise, one season of life is always rolling in while another is slowly passing.

Being alive in this life God created means to live in”change” and exist in”time”.

My current ccourse is Liturgical Year and Liturgical Prayer so this deeper understanding of time is what we are all about in this class.

Personally, I have experienced God through time in the growing-up of my children. Each day I am overwhelmed by the incredible joy that pours out from each of them. Sure enough, spills, messes, and other disasters come out along the way too. However, the love, the creativity, the energy, and the pure joy that each of the kids seems to bear is more than I could ever gather up and truly soak-in. Each day they are living and growing faster than I can keep up! I struggle to cherish each fleeting moment of growth, of development, of change.

I only get to live each day with them once and there is always more goodness abounding than I could ever fully appreciate.

For me, this is one way that”time” points back to God. When the passing of time, God’s own creation, brings joy that goes beyond the limits of time, it reminds me of the infinite joy of the Heavenly kingdom.

Maybe”time” becomes my photo-album of glimpses into heaven?

There is nothing like a great,”sun-shiny” day full of opportunities, ambition, and successes! However, today is not one of those days!

My day, today, feels like it is grinding along with many projects needing my attenion all at once while I have enough energy for doing… oh, maybe half of one project.

Sure, the new baby was up many times last night. This week has extra projects competing for my time, and I have been getting over a cold. Still, somehow, it is through nothing less than the grace of the Holy Spirit that even this seemingly ordinary day takes on extaordinary meaning. Although no honorary proclamations will be made or awards handed out, today I continue to fulfill who God has called me to be: a husband, father, Campus Minister, student, a disciple.

Being engaged in the academic and spiritual community of Aquinas Institute helps me realize this more clearly and to be reminded of the unfolding of my Baptismal mission- even on the days that otherwise seem dominated by dullness.