Every day is a challenge to love one another. I hope that in this blog I do not display self-righteousness or act as if I have it all figured out and that married life is easy for me now. Each day I must put forth a great effort to stay centered in Christ rather than in myself. And some days I do well and some days I don't do as well.
To close out the month of May, I need to point to our Blessed Mother once again. She is the shining example of the virtue of humility. There was a time that I thought being humble meant to think less of myself, when it actually means to think of myself less. Blessed Mother immediately said yes to being obedient to God's will for her and did not consider the difficulties it was going to cause her. Then after the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she became pregnant with Jesus, she travelled to her cousin Elizabeth to serve her in her time of need. Blessed Mother was thinking about serving and not about herself.
A lot of my problems within family life stems from desiring an easier way of living life. Managing a household requires constant service. The home is our mission field and the work is never done. I never worked alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, but something tells me she never looked at the amount of work she had to do but looked at the opportunity to serve God in the poor. She was a humble servant. And so many people were drawn to this small holy woman.
Being a part of something good and positive draws others. It feels good to be a part of something positive. In family life, my complaining about how much I had to do or detailing how much I did do, with an air that no one appreciated it, did not make my family members jump to help me. It was when I served humbly and with joy, that I received unsolicited help, and it was a very positive experience for everyone.
For years, I did not want any help because it usually caused me more work. I missed out on having my husband help me cook because it usually meant washing more pans and a thorough cleaning of the stove/oven too. The children wanted to help, but they might spill something or cause me to then need to wash the floor, etc. There is not much humility in any of that!
Staying positive about being a humble servant requires support. Being in family ministry, I talk with a lot of couples who are in difficult marriages. It is easy for them to find friends and family members who will tell them to get divorced and move on. It is not as easy to find friends and family members who will point to Jesus and encourage us to be faithful servants. The purpose that I feel God is asking me to share my lessons on this blog is to encourage one another in continuing to run the race to the finish, fight the good fight. This earthly battle is difficult and we need each other to support our striving to win the prize.
To my surprise, the prize of love came to me when I started to think about myself less. Many saints have said that all the other virtues flow from the virtue of humility. Seeing serving others as an opportunity to be a part of something good and positive drew people to me and I felt the love of God through the love of others. It is a grand prize.
Whether single, married, separated, divorced, religious, let's encourage one another to seize the opportunity to be a part of something good and positive and serve humbly.
"Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'" 1 Peter 5:5
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7
"What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by iteself, if it has no works, is dead." James 2:14-17
"May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15:5-6
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