Journaling Archives - Page 60 of 68

my boys I was thinking the other day about the things that I write and the advice that I give to friends and family when they’re going through tough times. I realized that what I offer may not always be well received because sometimes things don’t turn out the way we expect or the way we want. Then come the questions. I kept thinking, how can I help people understand the importance of trust in God and do I really practice it myself? Well, of course, when I opened my bible that day, it led me to the book of Job. Job 38:1-41 to be exact.

We are all familiar with the story of Job, a righteous man who endured suffering as a test of his faith and integrity. He questions God through it all. He cannot understand why he, a righteous man, has been subjected to such fate. How often do we experience things in life that lead us to question: Why is this happening? How do I handle this? What did I ever do to deserve this? We see God respond to Job, but He doesn’t answer his questions. Instead He responds to Job by basically asking: Who are you to question my plans? He accuses Job of being a know it all!. He admonishes Job and begins to question Job about all of creation. He challenges Job, in essence saying: come on, you who know so much, answer me this! Of course, Job doesn’t have all the answers and neither do we. That’s where our faith in Divine Providence comes in.

We are reminded through the book of Job that some of our experiences in life may be incomprehensible. Sometimes, the choices we make are the underlying cause of our experiences but many times we just can’t explain them nor can we understand them. Through Job, we are reminded that God is in control and our job is not to question but to trust in Divine Providence and “go with the flow”, accepting and surrendering to God’s will for our lives. Easier said than done, for sure and for anyone going through a difficult time at present, I believe I run the risk of seeming like I’m writing all fluff – trust this, surrender that. In light of that thought, let us pause for a moment to think about God’s creation and how often we actually DO “go with the flow” and trust when things are going well – so why should our difficult moments be any different?

The human body, for one, performs miraculously every single day and we don’t even have to think about it. From our breathing, to sight, to all the senses and beyond. Each moment we take a breath, God breathing in us, we trust that our next breath will come. We go with the flow. We trust that the sun will rise in the east every morning and set in the west every evening and because of this we wake in the morning and go to sleep in the evening. We go with the flow. I’ll leave the rest to you, you get the point. The God I believe in set this whole universe in motion – humans, the birds of the air, the fish in the sea, the stars in the sky…………He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent!

We may not always see how God is working in our lives, we may not always have the answers and we may never know why we suffer certain things. Despite the questions, if we remember to remain grateful for the myriad of things going well and come back to the idea of “God’s will be done”, He will grace us with the strength to get through ANYTHING. The bible says, it is in our weakness that we are made strong! Embrace the challenges of life knowing you will come out on the other side – better than before. But also remember you cannot do it alone, remember the famous quote, there but by the grace of God go I! We can’t just sit home and wish things will get better, we have to allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit. We have to show God that we are placing our trust in Him, that we need Him. He is waiting with open arms to love us and bless us with the graces only He can give but we have to be willing to receive them. Go to mass, sit with Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament, read, read, read. Learn about your faith, allow yourself to expand upon the knowledge given to you as a child. The result is absolute AWESOMENESS!

My dogs Foster and Mellow, both australian cattle dogs, recently showed me the type of trust we humans need to have in God and my love for them has helped illustrate for me, the love Our Father has for us. These guys wake up each and every morning trusting that we are going to feed them and give them to drink, trusting that they will have clean, comfy beds to sleep on and trusting in the love my husband and I have for them. Do you think they worry about anything? (unless they do something wrong, of course, and even then I wonder!) When they run off into the woods to play, they trust that we will either follow them or that we will still be there when they return. These guys live their lives to the full, knowing they will be taken care of and all they have to do is show love and loyalty. On the flip side, we love these pups beyond words, they bring us such joy, even when they mess up sometimes. When I view my relationship with God in comparison to my relationship with my “children”, I see how it’s possible that God can love us soooooooo much no matter what and I see just how much more I can and need to trust in Him. Although I love my dogs regardless, I’m so happy when they show me love and loyalty – so I am also reminded of how important it is to show God my love and loyalty. Do your own comparison, I’m sure you’ll agree! God bless you!

Advent, Advent Wreath, Christmas, Candle This weekend marks the beginning of Advent – the four weeks of “waiting” for the arrival of Jesus – the REASON for the Christmas season! From the looks of things, you would think the Christmas season was almost over when, in fact, it hasn’t even begun and will not begin until Christmas day. Insane! I’m excited about the Advent season because it’s the beginning of a new year for the church. It encourages me to think about ways I can change in order to become a better version of myself. It reminds me to slow down and maintain my focus on Christ and NOT on the things of this world.

As I think about Advent, two words come to mind: humility and waiting. I’m reminded of Mary’s humility as she accepted God’s challenge to carry His Son. I’m reminded of her humility as she gave birth to our Savior in a manger. Humility is defined as a modest or low view of one’s own importance. It is the opposite of pride. Mary’s humility illustrated two things which I would say also serve to define the word. First, it illustrated her acceptance of divine grace and second, it illustrated her awareness of her lowliness, for she said “He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.” Talk about humility. She was born without original sin, she was CHOSEN to carry and gave birth to the Savior of the world and yet she remained humble. WOW!

There is something to be said about true humility. There’s a certain amount of strength and courage that’s required to be truly humble. In today’s world there is so much emphasis placed on “success”, whatever that means – professional titles, salaries and possessions and so again, we reach a crossroads – do we fall into that trap and live our lives striving to be, have and do MORE or do we open ourselves to divine grace knowing and accepting our true place in this world as a lowly servant? I choose the latter! There’s a sense of freedom that comes with humility. A freedom to be and do whatever you are called to be and do in this life without worrying about what others are doing or thinking. A freedom that comes with knowing that the only place to go from the “bottom”, as a lowly servant, is up. Scripture even tells us in Luke 14:10-11: “But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”… As I write, I’m also reminded of a question I came across in my reading: What is the difference between humility and humiliation? When we don’t seek the former, we sometimes encounter the latter. How true that is!

Waiting also crosses my mind as I think of Advent – for obvious reasons. But I also think of waiting for gifts on Christmas. In my humility I wonder if I should even be receiving gifts. What’s the purpose? Who am I to be receiving gifts on Christ’s birthday? If I accept a gift as a matter of tradition for the gifts brought to Christ after His birth, then maybe it should be something symbolic. Christ received gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh – gifts fit for a king, for royalty, which He was. Me? I should receive a gift fit for a lowly servant. So here’s a thought, instead of receiving a lavish gift or something I “want”, maybe I should receive ONE thing that I may need. Hmmmm? Think about that. As a society, we are so spoiled it’s obnoxious. We usually buy whatever we need throughout the year and then treat ourselves to what we want on Christmas and special occasions. Some of us may even buy whatever we want, whenever we want. Where did this need to blindly satisfy our every material desire come from? Where and when was this impulse born? Whatever happened to sitting with our wants long enough to realize we really don’t want them at all?

This Advent I want to offer a difficult challenge – let us look to Christ and Mary as examples of humility and come down from our pedestals long enough to LET GO of the pride and LET GOD enter our hearts. Let’s sit with our wants and let them pass, then wait for the things that we need. Most importantly, while we wait, let us REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON! God bless you!