Ask self: Do I play leap frog?

In the children's game, Leap Frog, one hops over the one hunched down and then the next. I am near to 40 years old and I cannot play Leap Frog. My hips would give out, rather I doubt my legs could hop over another person! It was fun as a kid. But the leap frog I am talking about for us today is the leaping over what is first priority to do what is second to our purpose.

For example, if my child is ill, my first duty is to take care of him. If I put him aside in order to stick with my day's schedule, I am leaping over him to go do what I think I must or want. Another example, it is the duty of the mother to teach her children how to pray. If it gets to the close of the day and out of fatigue I choose not to end their day with modeling and joining them in prayer, I am leaping over my duty and giving into my desires again.

Sometimes it is clear that we are ignoring our first priorities, and sometimes it is not. I know I have to constantly consider what my duty is and how to carry it out. I have big ideas very often, and although good, they usually are not the best idea for my soul and my family. The best is always that which includes self sacrifice and loving service to our first duty. If we are blessed with time, strength and energy to go beyond that, Praise God! But we need to "leap" no further...our first duty is right before our eyes.

I will end with a suggestion that was passed onto me by a trusted priest. I have adopted this suggestion recently and it has given me peace. Maybe it will you too:

First, attend Mass as often as you can in addition to Sundays. In the Mass, the Lord has light for each of us and strength to give us so we can better carry out our duty. When you listen to the readings and the homily, take what stands out to you and "chew on it" for the day. You can jot down in a notebook the few words that stood out, you can look up the readings later in the day to revisit the daily scripture passages; but in so doing listen and let the message sink in. What to do with it now? Use it to begin to see God showing you His path to follow and then share it with your children. Do your best NOT to make it conform to your desires, but in all things humble comply to God's little way. Then take this message meant for you and pass it onto your family that day. See, God gives us the agenda one day at a time, and He gives it through the Church. Joining in on that message and the Church, we are invited to enter in and witness to all nations...moms do this by witnessing in thought and word to their families. Our children are then sent forth in God's time to also share. But if we do not, they may not...at least not without greater struggle.

Let us each ask ourselves if our lives are hectic because we leap over our first duty. Then let us, by Christ's strength and Mary's companionship, change our lives to put God first and our duty next. God bless you all.

Ponder this:

"In order to acquire tranquility in action 

it is necessary to carefully consider 

what we are capable of accomplishing 

and never to undertake more than that. 

It is self-love, even more anxious to do much 

rather than to do well, 

and this self-love that wishes to undertake everything 

and accomplishes nothing."

-St. Francis de Sales

May your summer with your family and activities be done well with tranquility.

May this carry over into your every day, and mine!

Amen.

Great New Blog!

I think many of you will love this blog. I attached it to the suggested blogs on the side. You can click on it here, too. It is called, Under Her Starry mantle. Scroll the whole way through. She has great links and craft ideas for you with little ones!

Just a great find, thanks to our Faith Formation Director passing it to me.

Today is First Saturday. This is a devotion that Our lady and the Popes have been encouraging. Please incorporate it into your lives.

Happy June!
God bless you all!

Rest for the Weary by Mary Bielski

Rest for the Weary

By Mary Bielski | May 28, 2013

I have a hard time taking care of myself. It isn’t that I don’t want to care for myself. I just always think there are more important things to do. When did life get so busy?
Running into spiritual direction, the truth smacked me in the face like a 2 by 4. After 45 minutes of sharing my busy and over committed schedule, my director said: “Mary, we are mind, body and soul. You are exhausted! If you don’t learn to care for yourself first, or you will never be spiritually healthy.”
Wait, doesn’t God ask us to put others before us? (Matthew 20:16)
Deny yourself? (Luke 9:23-24)
Isn’t putting ourselves first selfish?

A BALANCED LOOK

Jesus said that the second most important commandment in the Old Testament was to “love your neighbors as yourself” (Mark 12:31) That means loving and caring for yourself has to come first. Loving yourself is not selfishness – at least not the bad kind. It is an act of stewardship. It’s caring for the most important resource God gave you – YOU.
Taking care of your body, your health, and your emotions is important. Because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are composite of body and soul and how we care for our bodies matters. By respecting our bodies, we not only honor God, but it also bears life for others.
We are called to love. And we can’t do that if we’re runned down Catholic zombies – tired, sick, and emotionally exhausted. We can only give to others what we have. Learning to care for ourselves, body and soul, allows us the freedom to love others more abundantly.
When we’re not balanced and caring for our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, it has a ripple effect on everything else.

No Time for You

I spoke to a friend recently who laughed at me as I told her I was working on balance. “Good luck!” she said. “I gave up on that a long time ago.”
Has life gotten so busy that peace and balance aren’t even possible?
So many of us are overdosing on Starbucks and energy drinks and racing through our days. We’re trying to balance schedules, sports, school, work, family, friends . . . We can’t sleep. We can’t pray. We have more technology to do things faster and easier, but we’re busier than ever.
But it comes at a cost – YOU.
Just last week I saw this in action. Marian, our most active teen leader in youth group was just about at her breaking point. Her life was like a house of cards crashing down one by one — finals, leadership activities, college applications. She hadn’t slept well in weeks. Her prayer life was horrible. Her anxiety was starting to show in physical symptoms.
Her body and soul were screaming out – take care of me.
That’s not what Christ wants for Marian’s life . . . or for your life! He came so that we would have life and live in abundance (John 10:10).

REST FOR THE WEARY

Even Jesus took time to restore his body and soul. He removed himself from the crowds to be silent, rest, and pray (Luke 5:16).
If the Savior of the world needed to rest, then so do we.
Just don’t forget where the #1 source of your nourishment and renewal should come from – God.
Christ says all who come to him will never hunger (John 6:35). He will satisfy our souls. Our greatest need is our need for Christ.
So spend some time pouring out your heart to Him in prayer as you relax on the couch or worshipping Him as you take a long walk. Connect with some close friends. Go to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Take your Bible and go to your favorite coffee shop – feed your soul. Care for your body. It will bring life to more than just you.
He tells us “come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest.”

Calling out. For what?

Jesus asked the blind man in today's Gospel, what do you want from me? 

Out of the darkness the Blind man answered,"I want to see." 

I sit here trying to get to my desk work for today and I cannot help but attempt to reach out to more women. I have a heavy heart today. From government fiascoes, to Catholic education, and personal limitations, blindness seems to be a common denominator of it all.  What is odd is I am not sure if it is a chosen blindness, or an ignorant one? I am not sure which is worse. But I beg God to help me and you to see and humbly follow His Will.

Christ asked the blind man yesteryear and all of us today, "what do we want me to do for you?" Here we have the Creator of All Things asking what He can do for us! We could ask for anything really. But if you had one chance to ask Him, what would you say?And how far will you go to seek His gift? Like the blind man, will you ignore the onlookers comments and seek out Christ?

If I am willing to challenge you, I need to be willing to challenge myself:

Me? I want to Live Christ. But am I willing to sacrifice myself to do so? Lord, Help me and show me how.

St. Therese,
Pray that we and our children desire to humbly follow Christ, no matter what obstacles try to hold us back. 
Amen.

Are you Free?

 "Nor can we fail, in the name of the respect due to the human person, to condemn the widespread hedonistic and commercial culture which encourages the systematic exploitation of sexuality and corrupts even very young girls into letting their bodies be used for profit." (Paragraph 5, Letter to Women)

As I begin to read  Letter to Women By Pope John Paul II, I stop before paragraph 6 and marvel at the sexual dangers of women's lives around the world.  I wonder, do we really have it good in America? I mean compared to women in other parts of the world, we do have a lot more freedoms like voting and job success, education opportunities and the like. But as far as American women are concerned, with all that we have been given, are we still slaves?

Prior generations of women have worked really hard for us to have what we do. We need to be thankful to their sacrifices. Yet I ask: are American women happy? Are we happy as a result of all these freedoms? Are we living our dignity? Are we more loving? Are we living true womanhood? Or are we slaves to societies expectations of women? More specifically, are we slaves to consumerism and exploitation? The exploitation Pope John Paul II seems to be referring to is the actual physical exploiting of the female for sale and profit. But isn't that the same thing that our capitalistic society is doing to all women? 

The exploitation of females sexuality can begin or end in the home. What we literally "buy into" will direct our selves and our homes. The clothing we wear, the TV shows we watch, the jokes we laugh at, and the way we communicate with ourselves and others, especially our children has the effect of leading females either into increasing sensuality or rightful dignity.

I have personally encountered every single one of the examples in my own life. From immodest behavior and dressing, to speaking ill to myself, to telling my daughter she "cannot," and watching movies that reek with impurity!  It has all been part of my life. As I began to seek God more however, the realization of what I have been doing became clearer and clearer. I had to change if I desired God to lead my life and give my children an upbringing in true dignity. To begin this it meant modesty of body, eyes, ears, and mouth. It meant a fashion change. It meant a mind change. It meant learning what makes a women truly beautiful and changing my life to better model true beauty and dignity. I invite you to delve ever more deeper into this discovery and recovery of modesty and freedom from consumerism.

I will end with a true story I was told by a kind shop owner. We were talking about husbands and
wives and got on the topic of what is beauty. She said that one day a man came into her shop looking
for his wife. He wanted to buy her something and she was going to meet him there so she could show him what she liked. The shop owner asked what his wife looked like. The man proceeded to tell her about the bright eyes, and beautiful smile, how she walked so gracefully, and her hair and cheeks. The shop owner was amazed because this man's wife sounded gorgeous. She told him she had not seen anyone with that description in her store that day, but she will keep her eye out. He thanked her and said he would come back later.  As the day went on, the shop owner looked for this beautifully described woman. But to no avail. Instead, she saw a very simple, plain woman come in and look around for a bit. The woman came over to the shop owner and asked if her husband had been there looking for her. The shop owner realized with heartfelt emotions that the husband had been describing the woman's real beauty that came from within and was shown to him in her devotion and dedication to their family, hard work, and kindness. (Here it is good to read Proverbs 31)

Are you free to be a true woman? You and I will be free when our beauty shines from within and not

be described according to society.

Blinded with Hope

 "Every mother is like Moses... she prepares a world she will not see."  (Pope Paul VI)