Sometimes it takes years for words of wisdom to sink in and really make sense. It’s like the words sit there and wait until the day when the mind and heart are ripe and ready to absorb echoes from the past.

As a kid in elementary school, after being asked what church I went to, the typical response I received was, “what’s that? I’ve never heard of that church before.”

Last week, I baked prosphora for the first time in a while. This is such a special blessing for an Orthodox Christian! To give an offering to our Creator, created from our own hands, one that will be transformed by the Holy Spirit and then returned to us as the Body of our Lord, for the salvation of our souls. A mystery indeed!

“As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the Father’s love…” My hands were raised in worship, along with the entire congregation. I looked around me. A lot of people had their eyes closed, caught up in deep, spiritual worship. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He taken our sins from us,” the hymn continued. I felt nothing. Was there something wrong with me?

In a house full of children, a mother has to wake up early to hear the silence. An hour before sunrise, an alarm set quiet wakes me from sleep. That's when I open my eyes and I listen. I make sure no one's stirring, make certain this house lies covered in a blanket of hush. And knowing the smallest sound, the slightest stir, will raise it from sleep, I pull a book of prayer off my nightstand, bury myself under blankets and feign sleep.