Trust

I don’t know how to be a Christian without joy or hope.  I know of too many friends and families experiencing so much sadness or health problems.  There are couples wanting to have children who only experience miscarriages, couples who have children with disabilities or constant health problems. Then I have my own worries and problems as well.

As we age, we experience life changing events that scar us, make us wary to get up in the morning.  It is hard.

And it is especially hard to be happy some days, to put one foot in front of the other. Some days I don’t even want to get out of bed!

Sometimes I look in bad places for help, like alcohol, overeating, or drugs to help think less about my problems.  Deep down I know these don’t really take away the sadness or anxiety. It comes back full force once the effect has worn off.

But, I have found that increasing my trust in God seems to grow the seed of joy inside my soul.  It some how gives me the strength to get up and face the world again.  The more I give over to God, the more I am able to deal with life.

Now, I’m not jumping up and down for joy most days, but I have truly found a peacefulness in dealing with constant problems and worries.  It’s like a warm fire I know I can go back to any time I get cold.  God is the reason for that fire.  I know it is His peace that helps my heart sigh and know He is in charge. Even if I don’t like where things are going in my life because I cannot control them, I know He has my back. 

That control thing is hard to give up. But I discovered a prayer that helps me do it.

Dear God,

Please put me where you need me to be this day. You know I worry about my family and that I should always be there to help and that is impossible. So put me where I can help the most this day. I trust in you.

 

Trust

such a small word for such a HUGE action.

 

The Smile is Coming!

 

Technology is constantly advancing, but how wonderful it would if scientific and technological innovation brought greater equality and social inclusion with it. How wonderful it would be if, while discovering faraway planets, we could also rediscover the needs of our brothers and sisters who orbit around us." Thus says Pope Francis about our every increasing technology.

And it's true. At least I find it to be true that the more communication devices we have, the worse we are at communicating.  We have emails, text messages, and social media as well as printed paper, yet we still miss appointments, dates and meetings because now we have too many ways of looking for our appointed time and get lost in the woods of so many technology trees!

Instead of helping families be less busy and be able to spend more time together, technology sometimes complicates our lives. We are awash in phones, screens and monitors and don't have time to see our children or grandchildren grow!

Let's celebrate Joy and Hope by beginning this next year with a promise to put down the phones, computers, laptops and other devices and use our mouths and hearts to communicate with each other.  We cannot build up trust in our God when we cannot hear His Word in our hearts.

This winter we will talk about God sending his Smile to us.  Do you know what that was?  Stay tuned!

Joy and Hope

 

It was Sunday’s reading of St. Paul to the Philippians that got me.

 He wrote a letter while sitting in a dark dungeon awaiting his beheading. And yet, peace surrounded him and he was able to write a beautiful letter that described the peace he was praying for.

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace, how could St. Paul have peace at a time like that? Yet, because he had come to know not only God’s will, but His peace he was able to help his spiritual children before he would leave this earth. 

St. Paul did not have an easy time coming to that peace.  He was arresting Christians left and right, doing what he thought was the right thing.

But sometimes, doing what WE think is the right thing isn’t always what God wants us to do.

So God called Paul, and rather struck him down to get his attention and Paul finally listened.  He stopped being angry at Christians and realized God was calling him to be a follower of Christ.

This eventually led Paul to a spirit of Joy and Hope from which he was able to preach to his fellow Christians about God’s peace.

Sometimes, even when we think we are thinking the ‘right’ way or doing the ‘right’ thing, God insists we look at it in a different way.  This may make us uneasy and uncomfortable, but by listening to God instead of our own prejudices and ideas, by maintain an attitude of Joy and Hope we can let in God’s peace about everything going on in our lives. We can let go of the fear that is constantly overwhelming us.  We can have ‘no anxiety at all, but in everything make our requests known to God. And His peace will reside within us.