Tag: self improvement

Don’t Get Mad, Get Glad!

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Some days I’m just so glad I have God. I know that statement should be that ALL days I’m glad to have God – believe me, I am – but some days (you know those kinds of days) the gladness is just that much more opaque. Situations that would have gotten me pretty depressed when I was younger, in the last couple of years, are now just reasons to remind me to think of the blessings I have and that everything will be okay.

Sometimes I find that the more people I’m around, the lonelier I feel. Maybe that’s just my introversion…I don’t really know. But I do know that other people do feel the same way so at least I’m not alone in my loneliness (however that works). It has something to do with not feeling like many people really know me I’m sure. I can count on one hand the number of people I feel like I can talk to, they listen, and they have empathy for what I tell them. They don’t just automatically tell me what to do, or explain how I SHOULD think or feel, or try to down-talk my concerns.

But when I start to dwell (which I am known to do occasionally – but I’m getting better!) on not having anyone to talk to, I now do a little mental forehead slap and say, “but GOD understands!” In my life I’ve looked into Buddhism and Hinduism and random other religions trying to find my niche but they all left me with the same loneliness. Then I came back around to try Christianity again (I’d been raised that way with religious education classes and all but it never hit home for me).

Now, with Christianity, you can’t ever feel alone. Especially if you’re Catholic and have the whole communion of Saints! A God who experienced what it’s like in a puny people body? Terrorized, persecuted, bullied, tortured, love, work, relationships…yeah, I think that God can empathize with what my simple little day is like! God “gets” it so much that we even were gifted the Holy Spirit to get through it all! I mean, how can you not love the Holy Spirit? Seriously, I think Pentecost should be a MUCH bigger celebration than it is. It’s sorta my favorite holiday. Too bad it’s always on a Sunday or else we should really be allowed to take the day off work for it and wear special hats 🙂

So “Paws to Pray” by acknowledging that through faith, we are never alone in our journeys. Never left to flounder without an anchor. God’s presence and unremitting love is with us always – even during our times of snotty grown-up teen angst, blooper moments, and all-out failures. Especially during those times.

I don’t get any kickbacks; this is just how my brain thinks:

Live Like God is Watching

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This quote that is in the image above was very thought-provoking to me when I first read it:

“When was the last time you lived by the gentle voice of conscience and it brought misery to your life? Attune your soul to the voice of the conscience within.”

(Matthew Kelly, The Narrow Path)

Their suggestion is something I frequently struggle with. It makes sense, I agree with it…yet, as with everything, execution is the hardest part. I’ve always said the problem is that I lack the self-confidence to believe that I would know the right thing to do. I always second-guess myself. It takes me forever to make a decision. I always have to have the facts, recheck the facts, triple-check the facts, then ask a few people their opinions, compare that against what I already know, let it marinate a few days, revisit it, check with a different person…well, you can see how far this can go sometimes! But that assumes that the little voice in my head is me. But, I guess, assuming that little voice is me is pretty egotistical!

I can’t think of a time when that voice was talking me into doing something bad…it’s always a reminder to be doing doing good or a way to improve my life. So why wouldn’t I automatically think that it is the voice of God giving me a nudge? Is it because it’s trying to tell me the right thing to do and the right thing to do is rarely the easiest thing to do? Or am I just a little too self-involved, maybe? Oh, I hate it when I come to that realization! I’ve always felt like I live by that little voice in my head but do I really when I second-guess it so much? Am I really living by faith when I require so much concrete reassurance?

My “Paws to Pray” today is take a few minutes to thank God for that little inner voice that leads me in the right direction and to promise that I will be more confident in its message (and be readily willing to take action!) in the future .

A God Among Humans?

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“Suffering is redemptive in part because it definitively reveals to man that he is not in fact God, and it thereby opens the human person to receive the divine.”

-from Life Issues, Medical Choices

Whoo! This quote made my head do a mini explosion this morning when I opened my Franciscan Media Minute Meditation email. It was like a thousand proto-thoughts collided into a tiny epiphany. If you know the movie “The Matrix”  (1999) then you know when Neo is first learning how they load new information with a stick poked into his brain and so they start to teach him different ways to fight and he learns now to do it in, like, five seconds so he opens his eyes all freaked-out like he can hardly believe it would happen so fast, and he goes, “I know kung fu!” I had a, “I know kung fu!,” moment when I read that quote.

Oh, the striving to be God-like that so many people do! Perfectionist trying to attain something they never can have. Control freaks trying to take-over everything but themselves. Type-A personalities who never think anything is good enough. (No hate…I’m all of those things – they’re just examples.) What do all of those personality traits cause? When you really think about it – they cause suffering. Why? Because we aren’t God but we are trying to act like it.

God had to come down into a wimpy people body (Jesus) so that we would understand that even He would have suffering as a human due to its bodily earthly confines. And through that illustration of trust – even through the darkest of times – we are shown a path to a closer relationship with God by allowing the hole that suffering creates to be filled by the divine. In essence, the void that is created by all the taking away of self that happens through suffering creates an opening to be filled by God’s love. Yowza.

That just reminded me how the whole process it a little bit like the Japanese art of Kintsugi. It’s where they fix broken pottery with gold. Instead of trying to cover-up a crack, they accentuate it with something precious and beautiful. So it’s like WE are the pottery and we suffer (get cracks) but then those cracks become part of our beauty because they get filled with gold (God’s love) that would never have been put there unless there was brokenness (suffering) to begin with. Then, by the end of the whole process, we’re even fancier than how we started out! I like it. I like it a LOT.

So take your “paws to pray” today and visualize God filling your broken bits with His golden love. You can incorporate it into a breathing meditation: breathe out to a count of four and breathe in for a count of six as you visualize pulling golden light in through your nostrils. Pull the golden light deeper into your body each time you inhale and let it seep into those little cracks and crevices that life creates in you. Once you have let the gold settle into your body, then take a moment to thank God for His healing love that make you better than you ever were on your own.

Featured Image credit: Franciscan Media Minute Meditations

It Takes More Than Prayer

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This seems to be a theme to many discussions I’ve been having with different people lately. Of course, prayer is important – it has its purpose and place but we can’t stop there!

So many people use prayer as a way to remain passive or change the burden of action onto someone else – namely onto God. “God, fix it.” “God, show us a miracle.” “God, change their hearts.” It almost seems like a challenge for God to prove himself in a way that reminds me of Jesus’s 40 days in the dessert with the Devil (Matthew 4:5-7). I’m sure that isn’t the intent of the person making those petitions but, really, what are THEY willing to do in order to help?

The grace present inside all of us makes us, literally, the hands of God. The question shouldn’t be why God let something bad happen, it ought to be what could I have done to have kept it from happening? How can I help to remedy it now? What can I do in the future to make/keep things better? Hold the phone! Wait a tick! That takes effort on our part! And courage! And insight! And most importantly ACTION! Sometimes I think that when people say prayer doesn’t do anything, it is because they are praying for the wrong things.

We have these bodies to make the world a better place not just to look cute (though a lot of the world would try to make you think otherwise). Inaction makes us weak and unhealthy so that just proves that we are MADE for doing things! I know, we are technically doing things all the time (on the cellular level, I’m really quite busy!) but are we choosing to use our time and energy on the things that matter most?

How about the next time you “paws to pray” you ask God to receive the guidance for YOU to do something in the world? “God, inspire me to find the answer to the problem.” “God, give me the strength to follow through on the answer you lead me to.” “God, help me develop the patience to be an example of your love to this person so I can lead them in the right direction.” Prayers like that can change everything.

From Novice to Bodybuilder

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A 40-Day Spiritual Workout for Catholics by Bob Rice (2013)

I facilitated an at-home spiritual retreat using this book with my church. We started January 1st as a New Year’s Resolution. It was a cute play-on-words since so many people’s New Year’s resolution is to workout for physical health, we were doing it to improve our spiritual health. And since any workout is difficult to maintain without a little motivation, having an accompanying online blog was a wonderful addition. We all really  supported each other to keep going for the whole 40 days as well as go more in-depth into the author’s reflections.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about this book! Bob Rice created such a thoughtful progression from day to day that he really did foster a deeper connection to the traditions of the Catholic faith. I kept having so many ah-ha, light bulb moments that it started to get humorous almost. One of the things that can be hard for a lot of people is to move their faith from their heads to their hearts. But, on Day 12, Mr. Rice provided such beautiful imagery of what our reception into Heaven would be like, it provoked very deep emotions for me. The next time I was at Communion, I had a much stronger connection to what I was taking part in. Others in my online group mentioned similar connections throughout.

So whether you are able to read this book as a group (which I HIGHLY recommend) or on your own, I suggest that your spiritual growth is worth the 40 days. I plan on doing another cycle through it, too – since there are always little details that you don’t necessarily pick-up on the first time through a book. Not-to-mention, you are always at a different stage of your spiritual journey, for messages to hit you from another direction. But that’s the fun part that makes religion “alive”!

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Saint Francis did it, so can you!

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St. Francis of Assisi apparently preached to animals. I mean, why not? They’re good listeners and they’re great at looking like they’re interested. You can’t go anywhere without running into some animal – whether it is the dog at your feet, the cat on you lap, a bird in the tree outside your window, a resident spider in the corner of your room, or an earthworm on the sidewalk after the rain. So why not make them a purposeful part of your life?

Worried about feeling silly talking to animals or reading a bible passage out loud just so Spot or Bubbles (your fish) can hear? Think of it as a good first step to being more comfortable evangelizing to other people. We’re all called to talk about God to others – but, I don’t know about you – that can be pretty hard for me. I’m not sure how the other person is going to respond, I feel like I don’t know enough to be able to respond to their questions or critiques, I don’t want to seem pushy about my personal beliefs, then I get all shy and clam up.

But you don’t have to be a street corner, bible thumper to evangelize (not that I’m criticizing that method but there are many of us that are not extroverted enough to do that). My sister had babysitters who were students at the local Christian college. One time she made the comment that she couldn’t understand why they were always so happy! Like, ALWAYS! Yeah, my guess is that it’s probably because they have embraced their faith – and when you do that, there’s no reason to be UNhappy! And just with their attitudes, they evangelized. It wasn’t in-your-face; it wasn’t confrontational, but there was something noticeably different about them…in a good way!

So use the comfort of the solitude you have with your pet (or any animal nearby) to make yourself comfortable with being in your faith. As you walk to get your mail, notice the sparrow in the tree and say, “Why hello there! I see you are enjoying this fine day that God has made, too!” Well, for that one you might want to do it in your head so your neighbors don’t get concerned. But, seriously, can it hurt to say a before meal prayer when you put down the dog’s dinner bowl? I guarantee if you have small children they will LOVE this practice. Not only will it help to instill habits of appreciation, thanks, and praise but it will help to give them the language and comfort level to continue with it as they grow older – with animals OR people! And, really, the worst that could happen is that other people might look at you a little sideways but that just might start a conversation that both of you need.