 |
|
| Wednesday, March 28 |
| · | Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida (0) |
| Friday, February 09 |
| · | St. Peter Catholic Church - Jupiter, FL (0) |
| Thursday, February 08 |
| · | RESURRECTION RALLY, Wisconsin Dells, WI (0) |
| · | St. Paul Catholic School, Tommy and the Puffer (0) |
| · | Hurlburt Air Force Chapel, FL (0) |
| · | Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, FL (0) |
| Friday, January 26 |
| · | Church of the Nativity, Longwood, FL (0) |
| Friday, January 19 |
| · | Missions in Missouri, Kansas City and Warrensburg (0) |
| · | California Christmas, 2006 (0) |
| · | Providence, RI, Malden, MA, Draper, UT (0) |
| · | What Happens In Vegas Doesn't Stay in Vegas! (0) |
| · | Knoxville, Tennessee, Oct. 17-19, 06 (0) |
| · | November Travel Story, 2006 (0) |
| · | TRAVEL FLASH OCTOBER, 06 (0) |
| Thursday, November 23 |
| · | Recording, Prior Lake, Windsor, Ontario, Detroit, Troy (0) |
| Wednesday, November 22 |
| · | Paramus, NJ and Brookfield, WI (0) |
| · | Jesse & Mike-- Thick and Thin Tour-Sept 23/25 (0) |
| · | Leading With Passion--Music & Arts Festival (0) |
| · | California Dreaming (0) |
| Tuesday, October 03 |
| · | ST. PHILIP THE APOSTLE, Lewisville, TX (0) |
| · | VERMONT, ARCADIA and ALAMEDA (0) |
| · | LaSallian Power, Moraga, CA (0) |
| · | Beginning Experience, Winnipeg, CANADA (0) |
| · | Diocese of Fort Worth, TX, DCYC 2006 (0) |
| · | ONTARIO, CANADA, Round 2 (0) |
| · | Vietnamese Youth Conference, 06 (0) |
| Friday, June 09 |
| · | Random Rant - Yo to the Manibusan Flow (0) |
| Tuesday, June 06 |
| · | Perry, GA -- ONE IN THE SPIRIT (0) |
| Thursday, June 01 |
| · | Jesse and the Intern -- Chris Gosselin (0) |
| · | Jesse and the Intern -- Bryan Lorentz (0) |
| Tuesday, May 23 |
| · | Columbiana and Youngstown, OHIO (0) |
| Monday, May 22 |
| · | London, Ontario...Phoenix, Arizona (0) |
| Thursday, May 18 |
| · | Peterborough, Ontario, CANADA (0) |
| Saturday, May 13 |
| · | Stillwater and Mendota, Minnesota! (0) |
| Thursday, May 11 |
| · | Going to where they are...Windsor, ONT (0) |
| Wednesday, May 10 |
| · | Fort Wayne/South Bend, IN (0) |
| · | Marian College, El Salvador, The Tamarindo Foundation (0) |
| · | Travel Catch-up: March 25 to April 3, '06 (0) |
| Tuesday, April 11 |
| · | Catholic Conference 06 (0) |
| · | Broken Bow and Memphis (0) |
| Thursday, March 23 |
| · | Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada (0) |
| Friday, February 17 |
| · | Germany Slide Show! (0) |
| · | STOP THE MUSIC! (0) |
| · | Germany -- Part Three (0) |
| Thursday, February 16 |
| · | Germany -- Part Two (0) |
| Wednesday, February 15 |
| · | I Wanna Be Like Ed Dunn. (0) |
| · | Germany -- Part One (0) |
| Wednesday, February 08 |
| · | God's Providence in Providence, Rhode Island (0) |
| Tuesday, February 07 |
| · | Pueblo, CO and Jackson, MS (0) |
| · | Surrendering in Durango (0) |
| Monday, February 06 |
| · | Litany of My Saints... (0) |
| · | Grand Junction Deanery; Colorado (0) |
| · | Archdiocese of Newark, NJ; IT'S NOT ABOUT ME (0) |
| · | 3 Days in California, San Lorenzo, Atherton, San Francisco (0) |
| · | The Miracles in New Orleans (0) |
| Saturday, December 31 |
| · | Joy to My World...Jayme Turns 19 (0) |
| Tuesday, December 27 |
| · | It's about Suzanne! (0) |
| · | A Holy Day... (0) |
| Saturday, December 10 |
| · | I'm home. I'm disturbed. I'm guilty. I have time to blog. Run away! (0) |
| · | Last Tour of the Year - Part Two, Huntingtown, MD (0) |
| · | Last Tour of the Year - Part One, Grand Rapids, MI (0) |
| Monday, November 28 |
| · | Holy Days and Hollow Daze... (0) |
| Monday, November 21 |
| · | New York...Syracuse and Endicott (0) |
| · | Laying One's Life Down For A Friend! (0) |
| · | Vancouver to California (0) |
| Saturday, October 15 |
| · | Love doesn't Fall; It Rises (0) |
| · | Guam--Part Four (0) |
| Thursday, October 13 |
| · | Guam--Part 3 (0) |
| · | Guam--Part Two (0) |
| · | Guam--Part One (0) |
| · | It's A Blur (0) |
| · | New Life For Leanne (0) |
| Monday, September 12 |
| · | Thank God for Leanne (0) |
| Saturday, September 03 |
| · | We Can Help The Gulf Coast! (0) |
| Monday, August 29 |
| · | WYD, Cologne; Part 2: Looking for THE moment. (0) |
| · | WYD, Cologne, Part I: Something for Everyone (0) |
| Sunday, August 14 |
| · | What Makes a Man? (0) |
| Saturday, August 13 |
| · | Emma's Revolution (0) |
| · | "To Do Justice....is to know God." (0) |
| · | Hiroshima, Nagasaki, remember, reconcile... (0) |
| Thursday, May 05 |
| · | Seriously On the Road... (0) |
| · | Taking our turn...insufficient instruments... (0) |
| · | Minnesota, Part Two (0) |
| · | Pray for... (0) |
| · | Minnesota, Chapter One (0) |
| · | Brusly, Louisiana (0) |
| · | Jesus Lives. John Paul lives...so do we. Happy Easter! (0) |
| · | John Paul II (0) |
| · | Send hope to Red Lake Tribe and to ourselves... (0) |
| · | Oscar and Jesus; Living The Promise (0) |
| Thursday, April 14 |
| · | Pray for... (0) |
| Tuesday, March 15 |
| · | Confessions of an itinerant witness (0) |
| · | San Francisco Youth Conference (0) |
| · | Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, SF (0) |
| Tuesday, February 08 |
| · | Savannah, Georgia...Power of Peace (0) |
| Thursday, January 20 |
| · | Tacoma, Washington (0) |
| Monday, January 17 |
| · | Joy Is Everywhere (0) |
| Friday, December 03 |
| · | New Photos From Galveston (0) |
| Tuesday, February 03 |
| · | Fire in Vernon, Texas (0) |
| Tuesday, January 27 |
| · | Galveston/Houston Youth Ministers retreat (0) |
| | Older Articles |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Joy to My World...Jayme Turns 19
Posted by: jesse on Saturday, December 31, 2005 - 08:44 AM
|
|
|
| |
19 years ago, think about it. 19 years ago, a child came into the lives of Jodi and I. She was a bit reluctant as Jodi spent considerable time in labor. And let me tell you, they call it "labor" because that's what the woman goes through. We guys, have it easy compared to the women. I'm a witness! So this little child comes into our life, we name her, Jayme, pro-nounced, Jay-mee. She didn't really cry a whole lot, but when she did, it's all diva-style. Celine Dion and Mariah Carey ain't got nothin' on the girl. She's got brown eyes that sparkle, and when she smiles, her whole face lights up. All through her childhood it is clear that she has something in her. Inside of her is a passion for advocacy, for loving others, especially children.
She also has a passion for singing, dancing, and laughing. As a child Jayme would create, choreograph, and direct home-made variety shows with her cousins and friends. Her youngest sister, Jennah, was automatically signed up as a participant. Naturally anyone who was chromosomally connected to Jayme, or frankly, anyone who Jayme knew and could get a hold of...was signed up. So in the backyards of Gramma Susie and Grandpa Rick's house, or inside their living room, or the same at Jamma and Poppa's house on Paru Street, (where I grew up!) the show would go on! Everyone, including the audience, would be involved. As much rehearsing and re-rehearsing went on, as hard as Gramma Susie and Jodi tried to keep the show curtain duct taped, nailed, and tacked up from the garage to the back porch, somehow the curtain would come loose and fall.
As much practice as the kids had, rehearsing their lines, their songs, their dance moves, their entrances, exits, costume changes; as much time Jayme would put into directing and re-directing, nothing, absolutely nothing ever went perfectly. Nothing was ever smooth. There was no need for perfection. Well let me change that. There was perfection. The perfection was in the joy. The joy was in the creating. The joy was in the work. The joy was in the singing, and in the dancing, and especially the laughing. The joy was in forgotten lines, forgotten cues, bungled entrances and exits, Kids got cranky and sometimes the crankiness squeaked out, and sometimes it came roaring out. The same for parents. Sometimes we were nurturing, and some times we could really lose it....yell, throw a tantrum, you know...the stuff you learned from us. The moment was a perfection of human living, striving, and experiencing the joy of being together.
That's Jayme. Jayme was smack dab in the middle of all that joy. There was something inside her that moved her to move her family and friends together in this work. And no matter how awful life might have been for any of those kids and adults, we found moments of love, and maybe even some healing. To be a part of something greater than ourselves; part of something and someone to which we could invest, donate, immerse and essentially...give ourselves. Wow. Sound familiar? "As you have been loved, so too, love one another." "Abba, make them one, as you and I are one, and one in them." Have mercy! And this is just Jayme's childhood!
I am in awe, some shock as well, that Jayme has just finished her first semester in college. She entered the University of North Texas with her heart on music, but her passion has also found her in the program that offers a degree in social work. I'm not surprised. So Jayme spends hours at school, hours at Cornerstone Childhood Learning Center, hours at nursing homes, and hours singing, dancing, and laughing everywhere else.
Make no mistake, Jayme does not always walk on water. She is perfectly human, with great moments of light and great moments of shadow. The day of her birth, December 28th, is on one of the feast days of the Church, the Feast of the Holy Innocents. A dark day in the history of humanity. Jump on a search engine and hit "Feast of the Holy Innocents." Dark shadow of humanity. There are shadows in all of our lives. I struggle with mine, Jayme struggles with hers, and you struggle with yours. We have a chance of coming through the dark, the night, the shadows if we but speak of it to others.
Jayme recently wrote me a letter revealing some stuff she was going through. It was direct, honest, and courageous. It was also hard to hear. But truth is the only way to live. It's the only way to integrity. Truth is the only way to life. It often seems like too heavy a burden to bear, but in fact, truth is the only place where freedom is found. My daughter has truth in her life. She's got a shot. As do I. As do you. As do we all.
Judaism, Christianity, Islam....ALL traditions of wisdom and faith have shadows. There is great truth, great wisdom, and great accomplishments in every belief, religious, secular or otherwise. AND, there are great shadows. Anything that is connected with being human will have light and shadow. There is a history of great violence in all traditions of wisdom and belief. One is "more great," "more true," "more real." I cringe when I hear Catholics say "We're the one true church." I hear Francis of Assisi whisper, "preach the gospel at all times and if necessary...use words." Yes, our faith springs from Judaism, and flowed from a Jewish experience, but that doesn't make us more "true" or more "great." Catholics don't need more Catholic pride, just like Americans don't need more American pride. Please, we don't need anymore of that kind of pride. "Blessed are the prideful." Hmmmm...."Blessed are the more true." Hmmmm...
Any time we have to say "we're more great or more true," we've revealed our shadow of fear. We've revealed our shadow of pride. If anything is needed, it isn't pride. We need humility.
In fact, Jayme's dad needs more humility right now.
Jayme teaches me about light because she is filled with it. She also reminds of the shadows, because those are present too. At 19, she is still one of my greatest teachers. She is fully immersed in light....and where there is light...there are shadows. It's not right or wrong. It's not a sign of sin or deficiency. It's a sign of life and living.
Like the shows of her childhood, and in her living today, she is fully immersed in life. Moving in and out of light and shadow and light and shadow...working, growing, discovering, falling, singing, crying, praying, laughing, crying some more, wondering, falling some more, rising, raising others, and even raising me from time to time.
Happy Birthday Jayme.
Joy to my world!
You illuminate my world and draw me from the shadows...
Love,
Daddy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| Joy to My World...Jayme Turns 19 | Login/Create an account | 1 Comment |
|
| | Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
