Thankful for 13 lucky years!

Each Monday, a small group of ladies participate in the meme Sleeping with Bread, started by Mary-Lue and based off the book by the same name and on the Friday before that, I post something I call Flashback Friday (today on Sunday) as part of that. The meme is based on the Examen as practiced by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I Corinthians 13:1-13

For what am I most grateful this week?

My wife and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary today. Here we are yesterday at a restaurant in a photo my sister took.

So with Thanksgiving this week, for what are you most grateful this week?

This post also can be found at my spiritual blog, Journeying with the Saints. If you only are interested in spiritual-related posts, you can subscribe to that blog, if you so choose.