Why is it that sometimes we find it so hard to rejoice in the Lord; to be grateful for the blessings we have; and to recognize just how much God loves us. As days and years go by and things change in the world, I think we as humans believe that life should be easy. That we should be taken care of and that our struggles are much more than we perceive others have.
In most cases however, that is not true. With advancements in technology and the globalization of your neighborhood, there is always someone or someplace that looks better than where you are now in your life. I want to be on that beach in Hawaii or I want to live in that big house on the hill. Things would be so much better if only.
Movies make you think that life is easy, that everything comes out well at the end and they should. Movies are for entertainment and should be looked at that way. They are not for us to compare our lives to. Our lives are unique to each of us. Even when we share experiences with others, we don’t all respond to them the same way.
I live in the United States of America, and with all its faults and turmoil, it is a great place to be living. We have the freedom to believe in God and to openly exercise that freedom. That is a gift that God has given to me and that is something that I should be thankful for, even when everything else seems to be going badly.
Sometimes it isn’t easy to rejoice in the Lord; what we have to be grateful for doesn’t seem like much. Reminding ourselves what we have and recognizing that these blessings come from God will help to turn our focus on Him and on gratefulness. In turn, being grateful may help to heal those broken relationships; become more compassionate to others; or help you see how wonderful you are in God’s eyes.
You are wonderful in God’s eyes; He loves you more than you can imagine, and He is there to help you whenever you need Him. This is an absolute truth that I need to remind myself of and not let anyone take away from me. This is an absolute truth for you also.
Yesterday, a friend of mine asked me what I would say if God came to me and said He wanted me to convince everyone to turn to Him. What a challenging question! I would have loved to say I would respond with “Yes Lord, whatever you want, I will go do it.” but I couldn’t. Why? Because, I know God has told me to do things that I put off. I start doing it and then I hit an obstacle and put the task aside.
So, although I would love to be able to say I would hop right to getting done what He wants me to do, I know that isn’t what I would really do. Although many of the things I am asked to do I complete right away, it is easy to push off those things that you don’t really want to do or you hit an obstacle when doing them. Being persistent in spreading the wonderful news of our Lord isn’t always easy. We run into obstacles and although we know that God will move those obstacles out of the way, sometimes we procrastinate helping to get past the obstacles.
What did I say to my friend? I told him that God would never ask me to do that. That God knows that I would never be able to convince “everyone” but if He did ask me to convince “everyone”, He would be with me and give me the resources to do what He was asking me to do. God gave me a gift of writing, He told me to put positive things into this world and for the past year, I have been wandering in the wilderness trying to figure out what to do and how to do that.
I get motivated to do something and do a little bit, but then an obstacle comes into play and I procrastinate. Geesh – what am I going to say to God when I meet Him face to face someday: “I was waiting for someone to help me. I was waiting for direction.” What an awful answer, I would be the servant who went and buried his one talent from the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. I don’t want to be that guy! I want to be the good and faithful servant.
God told me what to do, put positive things out into the world and all the help I need is right here – God, His angels and the saints are all here waiting to help me. I just need to ask for help and keep taking steps!
Yes – God will remove the obstacles in our lives. Sometimes we need to pray, the answer will come. I think God had my friend asked me that question because I needed to hear the answer I gave. God keeps reminding us when He wants us to do something and the question from my friend was a reminder. I most likely will stumble and fall again but Lent reminds us that Jesus fell three times on His way to the ultimate sacrifice of love for us, but He got up three times and kept going.
Follow Jesus’ example and keep going. If God wants you to do something, He will give you the resources to do it. If you fall, remember you are not alone, pick yourself up, Jesus loves you and is with you!
“fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
Many of us would agree that life is complicated. It may seem like a balancing act to get everything done, and day to day activities may be overwhelming. We have complicated our lives with looking at screens instead of real people and becoming obsessed with material possessions. We connect happiness with getting a new gadget and are not happy until we do. When we do get that gadget, the feeling quickly dissipates and we are off to acquire a new “fix”.
Everything in our lives takes up space. Whether it’s mental, physical or time spent, we only have so much room. Everyone you spend time with, every activity you participate in and all your possessions costs you something. God doesn’t want us running around in circles; He wants to help us remove the clutter in our homes, lives and mind. We need to ask Him for help and then allow Him to help us. We need to be honest with ourselves as to whether the priorities we are setting, the resources we are spending and the benefits we are gaining are what is right for the life God has planned for us.
There is no better time than now to think about how to simplify your life. Simplification is a journey and is never easy. It involves identifying what is important to you and eliminating non-essentials.
Make room for your inner voice and build a relationship with this voice. Jesus withdrew to a quiet place to pray and meditate on a regular basis. Silence can teach us the value of quiet contemplation. Make time for moments of silence and stillness as much as you can; even 10 minutes will help. Pray everyday, thank the Lord and resolve to grow spiritually.
As we cut our distractions and grow spiritually, we slowly encounter the keys to peace, joy and fulfillment.
As we grow in faith, our ability to recognize God’s desires for our lives increases. The closer we listen, the clearer we can hear those things He is asking us to do. Some of these things may be very easy and take no effort at all, but some will take us out of our comfort zones. Being obedient to His will is essential in continuing to grow closer to Him.
God made you and He alone knows the plans He has for you. If you don’t take the first step in that plan how can you ever achieve the things He wants you to achieve? You can want to make a cake, you can mix up all the ingredients to make a cake, you can put it in the oven, but if you don’t turn the oven on you are never going to have a cake.
Saint Catherine of Siena at one point in her spiritual development had withdrawn so much into her prayer life that she begged God not to make her eat dinner with her family. She wanted to stay with Him, but He had great plans for her and she would bring many souls to Him and she couldn’t do it from her room. He asked her to go and her obedience to Him made her go.
Sometimes it is scary doing the things God asks you to do. Sometimes you may find yourself not wanting to do what He asks because you don’t know how it will be received by others. You may even find yourself rationalizing all the reasons you shouldn’t do something and all the problems that may come up.
In order to grow closer to God, we have to trust that He will not leave us alone. We need to have patience. Even if what He asked us to do caused some negative consequences, good will come from it. God is in control. If He is asking you to do something, be secure in the fact that He is with you and He knows the outcome. Taking a step of faith is sometimes a hard thing to do, but if God wants you to do it, He is going to take care of all the problems that may arise.
Just like Saint Catherine, all she had to do was go down and sit with her family. Looking back on her life, I think this was a very important training exercise for her. She needed to learn to be comfortable in her faith and in her convictions. If she couldn’t sit at the kitchen table with her family and overcome their objections to the little that she ate, how was she going to do all the things she eventually did for God?
God didn’t show her all the things she was someday going to do. If He had she may have never come out of the room. Trust in God, be dedicated to Him and follow His direction, you will not regret it.
There are many examples in the Bible where Jesus offered peace to His disciples. Maybe those times are there to show us how important it is for us to find peace in our lives. After hearing and saying the words “peace be with you” our whole life, it starts to become just a saying. But we really should embrace it as a way of life. God doesn’t want us to live a life of anxiety and turmoil. He wants us to have peace. He wants our mind, body and souls to find that peace that only He can give us.
In the world we live in, with the daily pressures and the constant tugging for our time, how do we find that peace?
Start with the knowledge that God already knows the outcome of your day. He told us, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.” Exodus 23:20
He has prepared us a place and is working on putting the people and things in place that will help us work through our problems before we even have them. If we believe that and if we trust in that, then we can use that knowledge when the anxiety starts to build. We can remind ourselves that God has the answer for us and listen for what He wants us to do.
When you feel the pressure start to build, slow down, calm your mind and your body and let the word of God fill you. Finding that sense of peace and letting it fill our soul lets us see things from a different perspective. It helps us to deal with the situation at hand and respond in the way that God would want us to respond.
Sometimes it just takes a minute, stop, take a breath and talk to God. Always Stop And Pray.
Effective communication is the key to every successful relationship. How we communicate with one another determines how good or bad our relationship is. Being able to get your thoughts and ideas across to others; listening to their concerns, advice and feedback; and taking their feelings into account is not always an easy thing to do. In a world of emails and texts, it has become even harder. People are different and they respond to communication differently. Learning the art of communication takes time and practice.
Communicating with God is also not always easy, but it is well worth the investment. What is God asking you to do with your life? What direction does He want you to take? How do you know it is what He wants? These are all tough questions, but they are questions with answers. If you learn to communicate with God, it will be easier to hear and listen to the answers He is giving you.
Here are a few things you can do to help you along your journey.
Read the Bible. The more you read the Bible, the more you will see God’s words speaking to you. God sometimes uses verses and examples from the Bible to answer your questions or to give you direction on what He would like you to do. The more familiar you become with the verses and the lives of the people in the Bible, the easier it is for God to use them to provide you with direction.
Pray. If we aren’t talking to God, it is a lot harder to hear what He is telling us. God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to help us make the decisions He wants us to make. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” Romans 8:26
Ask for guidance. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. But if we don’t allow the Spirit to help us, He can’t do it. We need to turn off the television, put down the cell phone, or whatever else is eating up our time. We need to spend some time talking to God about what He wants us to do and listen for the answer. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
Listen. There is a big difference between hearing something and listening to something. Many times in conversations, I think we hear what the other person is saying, but we are not listening to what they are saying. Actively listening to someone can bring out a deeper understanding of what they are saying that goes further than just the words they are using. This is the same with God, we need to listen for His response to our prayers.
Be open for a response. It is rare that God has one of His angels appear to us and give us an answer. God answers us in many different ways: among other things, sometimes He uses Father’s homily; sometimes He uses a song; and sometimes He uses other people. He doesn’t always answer us right away and if we aren’t listening and opening ourselves up for a response, we might miss the answer.
Take yourself out of your daily routine. Sometimes it is hard to work through what God wants us to do in a situation if we don’t remove ourselves from our daily routine. Taking a walk or a drive and spending time with nature will help remove the stress and help to open us up to not only seeing the beauty God has put in the world, but also may help us to decide what God wants us to do.
Think about what you heard. Once you have an answer, think about what you heard. Is it something that conforms with the teachings Jesus has given us? If it doesn’t – it wasn’t from Him. For example – God is never going to tell you to cheat someone else out of what is theirs.
When in doubt – ask for clarity. If you have questions as to whether what you heard is from God, talk to Him about your concerns. Ask Him to clarify the answer. He will give you the direction you need. You can also talk to your priest; he can help you to discern what God is telling you.
Do what He tells you to do. Sometimes the easiest part of developing a good relationship with God is hearing what He wants us to do. But then we need to do it! God has given us free will for a reason. He doesn’t force us to do anything and He is very patient. God lets us pout and procrastinate and mull things over until we are ready to do what He has asked us to do. Sometimes the steps we need to take are really small and easy to take, but other times they seem as if He is asking us to do the impossible. Nothing that God asks us to do is impossible. He is with us every step of the way. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord” Jeremiah 29:11
Trust Him. Trust that God has a plan. He wants only what is good for His people and He has sent His angels to guard over us and guide us. “With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
I got a text from my 10 year old niece asking me what ruined my life. My first reaction to this question was where did this come from? Why would my niece think my life was ruined? As I thought further on the question and how to respond, I came to the conclusion that she was being picked on by one of her sisters telling them that she ruined their life and that my brother told her that little sisters ruin everyone’s life – and told her to ask me.
No matter where you are in your life it is not ruined. You have the ability to change yourself, to change how you look at things and to take control of your future. You may have certain circumstances that you are in that you can’t change, but you can change how you respond to those circumstances. I know in a lot of cases it is not easy to do and sometimes your old habits creep back in, but with God, you can do it. By being faithful and trusting the Lord that he will see you through you can take the steps necessary to be the person God intended you to be. Pick a goal, work towards that goal and don’t worry about setbacks – keep moving. There will always be times when you get discouraged, but don’t let those times grab onto you too tightly or hold on for too long. Keep praying and stay positive and looking forward.
So how did I answer my niece, I told her my life wasn’t ruined it was great and the fact that I had a fantastic almost 11 year old niece keeping things interesting made it even better.
Many of you are probably thinking you don’t have 10 minutes to spend, but I know that if you really looked at your day, you could do it. We believe in you and we know that once you see the benefit of having an intimate relationship with God, you will want more than 15 minutes a day with him. If you haven’t been praying every day, it may seem a little intimidating to do, but that’s OK, you are not the first one that’s felt that way and you won’t be the last. But most things that are worth having aren’t easy at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.
Some of you may be asking, how do we do this? One way is to use a daily devotional. There are many fantastic ones out there including, ‘365 Devotions for Catholics’. A daily devotional will not only benefit those of you that are new to developing a personal relationship with the Lord, but also those of you that already have a deep relationship with him. Find one that will give you a bible verse and then some thoughts on that verse. Start by reading this and spend some time thinking about it. Talk to God about it, discuss it with others if you feel comfortable doing that. Keep your mind open and listen to what the Lord has to say to you.
Being thankful can be a very hard thing to do sometimes, but the more time we spend thinking about the things in our life that are good and pure and deserving of our thanks, the easier it becomes. The food on your table, the people in your life, the things you have every day that you take for granted, all those small things that make your life easier. It could be as simple as the fact that your keys were in the first place you looked for them, or that there was toilet paper on the roll. I know that sounds silly, but how you start your day could affect the mood of your entire day. God really does care about the little details of your life and he takes care of those details if you trust him and let him into your life.
