This week, there are a few disparate thoughts leaving their impressions on me, and I want to share them. Now that they're all here in one place, I'm realizing they deal with trust. Maybe one of them will speak to you, too.

On getting older:

My friend Lilly said it the other day, and as soon as she said it, it rang true in my heart: Growing older, I'm finding, is about less. It's an attitude shift: having less, doing less, needing less, being focused and intentional about the things and people I give my love and attention to. The less makes room, and in it, there is great, deep, surprising joy.

Who would've thought?

On letting people, situations and my self be:

In her reflection "Slowing Down: Reflections from the white cliffs of England," Melissa Helser writes, "One of the clearest memories of slowing down and listening to the Lord was when my son turned 13. He cried and said to us, 'I don't want to grow up. I don't want life to change.' I immediately tried to think of something great to say to soothe his emotions. I wonder why we rush through tears. Grieving is one of the greatest gifts that the Father gives us to properly transition seasons of life. If we speed through these moments, we miss the opportunity of a face-to-face encounter with the Comforter. He is the God of comfort, the God who meets us in the middle of our tears. Thankfully, I felt the still, small voice and refrained from explaining away my soul's heartache. I heard the Lord say, 'Let him grieve his childhood; he loved it so much, he doesn't want to leave this place of beauty.' I took a deep breath and wept with him; I didn't want it to change, either. I never thought I would love it so much."

Being with; that's really all anyone is looking for.

On exaltation:

The "Veni, Sancte Spiritus" Sequence for the Pentecost Sunday Mass during the day says, "Come, Holy Spirit, come! And from your celestial home, shed a ray of light divine! Come, Father of the poor! Come, source of all our store! Come, within our bosoms shine. You, of comforters the best; You, the soul's most welcome guest; sweet refreshment here below; in our labor, rest most sweet; grateful coolness in the heat; solace in the midst of woe. O most blessed Light divine, shine within these hearts of yours, and our inmost being fill! Where you are not, we have naught, nothing good in deed or thought, nothing free from taint of ill. Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness, pour your dew; wash the stains of guilt away; bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray. On the faithful, who adore and confess you, evermore in your sevenfold gift descend; give them virtue's sure reward; give them your salvation, Lord; give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia."

We can ask for whatever we need. Come, Holy Spirit.