Note: Last night I accidentally hit "Publish" instead of "Save," so some of you may have received an incomplete blog post! Thanks to my daughter Mallorie for making sure I knew it went out!
I tried to give my daughters good advice in their teenage years, attempting to steer them in the direction of making good choices. I gave them a faith life and love for Jesus, trying to help them understand Jesus = good choices. I saw many eyes being rolled, told I didn't understand the situation, or blank stares glaring at me, knowing they were probably planning what they were going to wear to school the next day! I knew eventually they would all come around, thanking me for such wisdom when they were growing up. Boy, if that isn't inadequate recognition for the graces of My Lord and Savior! I am forever thankful this mission put me in the right frame of mind . . . I am nothing without Christ!
In todays Gospel (Matthew 8:18-22), Jesus teaches us to put Him above all else:
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
In Anne a lay apostle's book Lessons in Love, she inspires us to recognize God's Love is endless:
I tried to give my daughters good advice in their teenage years, attempting to steer them in the direction of making good choices. I gave them a faith life and love for Jesus, trying to help them understand Jesus = good choices. I saw many eyes being rolled, told I didn't understand the situation, or blank stares glaring at me, knowing they were probably planning what they were going to wear to school the next day! I knew eventually they would all come around, thanking me for such wisdom when they were growing up. Boy, if that isn't inadequate recognition for the graces of My Lord and Savior! I am forever thankful this mission put me in the right frame of mind . . . I am nothing without Christ!
In todays Gospel (Matthew 8:18-22), Jesus teaches us to put Him above all else:
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
In Anne a lay apostle's book Lessons in Love, she inspires us to recognize God's Love is endless:
"There will always be those in our lives who give us the feeling that
we are trying to love a cactus plant. If we get too close, we get hurt. Jesus
experiences this, too, of course, with each one of us to different degrees at
different times in our lives. The Lover, Jesus Christ, feels the pain of His beloved acutely, suffering with us the pains of our humanity. How baffling for
Him, humanly speaking, to be rejected, and yet how patiently He awaits
acceptance. His whole presence in each relationship could be viewed, among
many other things, as a study in patience. We, the beloved ones, entertain so
rarely the truth of the constant gaze of love that follows our every breath. This
is perhaps a blessing because when the strength of the Lover’s gaze is
remotely understood, the beloved one can feel helplessly inadequate in the
love equation. How can one return such pure love? How can one measure up,
protecting the pristine nature of the exchange? Clearly, without grace, one
would simply drift away, such would be the hopelessness of the situation. To
protect the relationship, Christ infuses into His beloved puffs of pure love
through an action of the Holy Spirit. There is no limit to the amount of growth possible in love, even while we remain on
earth."
Lay apostles, the minute you begin to think any good produced by your actions is a pat on your back, stop and thank Jesus for the graces He allowed to flow through you to others. Ego is a difficult beast to tame, but once you acknowledge it and see it for what it is, you will begin to give Jesus the recognition He is so deserving of.
Thank you, Lord, for keeping my ego in check at all times. Please continue to nudge me in the right direction when it starts to peek its ugly head!
God bless,
Bonnie
Lay apostles, the minute you begin to think any good produced by your actions is a pat on your back, stop and thank Jesus for the graces He allowed to flow through you to others. Ego is a difficult beast to tame, but once you acknowledge it and see it for what it is, you will begin to give Jesus the recognition He is so deserving of.
Thank you, Lord, for keeping my ego in check at all times. Please continue to nudge me in the right direction when it starts to peek its ugly head!
God bless,
Bonnie
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