Short Little Detours

This morning as I was getting the children ready for school, I was also trying to get the house tidied up! A man was to come over and check the foundation of our house that seemed to be complaining about the recent drought by way of cracks in the walls. Thankfully, the girls are mostly self-sufficient when it comes to getting dressed, so I was using this opportunity to do some sweeping and picking up downstairs. As I was doing this, I noticed that my son had left his pile of clean clothing on his stair! (After I clean and fold the children's clothing, I place it on their stair. The idea is for them to take it upstairs with them on their next journey to their room. This obviously did not happen this morning! Surprise! Surprise!)

So as I am moving around, cleaning, I asked my little pre-teen angel to carry her big brother's clothing up to his room.

She smiles and sits on the couch, "What's in it for me!"

"Nothing," I said, "except helping your mother."

At this point, the future attorney starts negotiating her compensation. "What about a movie tonight or maybe a soda?"

"No," I said, "You can earn an extra jewel for your Heavenly crown. I just need a little bit of help, and it won't take long. You are going up anyway."

The negotiations continue, but I held my ground as I went to wash the morning dishes that had piled up in the kitchen sink. I decided that I would not ask again. She knew that I wanted the clothing upstairs, and it would take so little effort for her to carry them up on her next trip up the stairs. It would be such a little detour into her brother's room. I decided to see what would happen.

As morning times can tend to be a bit crazy, I didn't notice for awhile, but after the children were at school- as I pulled out the vaccum, I noticed the clothing still sitting on the stair! It made me sad. That is when God said:

My children do the same thing. Many times I ask them to do such small
little tasks for their brothers and sisters, but they are just too busy doing
their own thing. Most tasks I request are right before them with such
short little detours from their normal routine. And when my children do
tasks, they usually expect some kind of payment. I, too, wish that these
tasks can be done for the love of Me, their God! It makes me sad,
too.

Going Out on a Limb!

Imagine this......

You are in the city, and someone very popular is about to walk down the street. People are starting to line the streets to get a better look. The area gets more and more crowded. Anticipation is growing! People you know are all around- men, women, and children- people in your community. All of the sudden, you look around and you spot some guy sitting up in a tree. What do you think? Does it appear rather strange that some fully grown man would decide to crawl up a tree? Is he embarrassed? Are people looking at him like he is a bit off?

Well, that man is Zacchaeus, and he is waiting to see Jesus walk by! You might be familiar with this from the Bible in Luke 19:1-10. Zaccheaus was so short, that the only way he could see Jesus was to climb up a sycamore tree! That was REALLY going out-of-his-way, and risking public humiliation! He is going beyond what people normally do to seek God. He is risking his reputation! And- he was so converted by Jesus, that even though he had cheated people of their money in the past, he vowed to pay them back four times the amount!!! FOUR TIMES! How many of us would do that?

When God TRULY comes into people's hearts, they are changed! The change should be so complete that their whole lives are different- everything they say, everything they do, the way they react- everything! Now, sure, we are human- and we all fall occasionally and need repentance, but how many of us really live our whole lives for Jesus? How many of us are willing to risk our reputation, our job, our finances, our friendships, our lives? Many times in America, we hear this "prosperity talk" from certain spiritual leaders and the media! "We are empowered to do what we want and have what we want." I wonder how much thought is put into the fact that Jesus was crucified, and he told us to pick up our cross and follow him? I wonder how much thought is put into the ultimate demise of St. Paul who wrote much of the New Testament? He was beaten, imprisoned, and eventually beheaded.

So, how many of us are willing to put ourselves on the line? Are we willing to suffer some embarrassment at being different? Are we willing to have people whisper about us? Are we willing to lose a few friends?

Recently, I heard a story of a woman much like Zacchaeus! Even though she worked for years at Planned Parenthood, America's number one abortion provider, she climbed up that tree and risked it all after seeing an ultrasound guided abortion procedure! According to her, she saw "a 13 week baby in the womb fight for its life…only to lose the battle in the end."

http://www.abbyjohnson.org/about/

After this, Abby left her job, was taken to court, lost friends, and now she is speaking up about what is really going on within Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry! (To learn more about Abby Johnson's story, check out her book Unplanned!) Her story illustrates the way they use nice sounding phrases to twist the truth so people won't understand what is really happening.

It's time for us to start looking! It's time for us to see what is happening. It's time for us to climb the trees of life and be embarrassed so we can see the way that Jesus wants us to live!

(Check out my other blog: http://getalife-itsyourchoice.blogspot.com/)

Pornography

Pornography is an evil brought by the destroyer to deceive people into thinking that something holy is meant for recreational or selfish purposes. It is not! Satan deceives people into thinking that they are not hurting anyone by viewing pornography! This is incorrect. Sex is designed to be a bonding and procreative act within a holy, God-ordained marriage. It is not entertainment. When God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit if the tree, disobedience did not “seem” to affect others- but it did- and so does pornography!

The Bible even shows us an example of this way back in 2 Samuel, Chapter 11, when King David watched a beautiful woman named Bathsheba as she bathed. The fruit if this inappropriate behavior was that David had relations with Bathsheba- got her pregnant- and purposefully put her husband on the front lines of a war so he would be killed. The consequences was that the child King David had with Bathsheba died. People think they can take a peek and get away with it, but bad fruit comes from these peeks and draws us down an evil path that can only be changed when we acknowledge our sins and repent from them.

Unfortunately, pornography is also deeply addictive. People think they can just "take a peek," but the sin enslaves them and draws them further down the path to depravity. And right now, these inappropriate images are prevalent in our society as they are so easily accessible through the internet. Sadly, even some of our television shows and commercials can draw people into this desire to "see more."

John 8:34
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Matthew 5: 27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Viewing pornography is not acceptable behavior for Christians and many times draws people into other sinful behavior!

1 Corinthians 6: 18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

Many Christians think that they can do whatever they want and still obtain Heaven. This is not true! There are consequences to sin. Why would we trade our eternity for lust? That does not make sense to me! I love the way a popular author and speaker, Scott Hahn, has described eternity. I can't remember his exact quote, but it was about the fact that if we wished to remove the sand from a beach one grain at a time- we could do that in Heaven because eternity is infinite but the number of grains on a beach are finite. That is a long long time, and certainly not worth giving up for a few moments of lust or inappropriate "entertainment".

So, to quote an old song I remember hearing as a child:

"Be careful little eyes what you see-
oh be careful little eyes what you see
because the Father up above is looking down in love
so be careful little eyes what you see!"

1 Corinthians 10:12
"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!"

Boundaries

As I walk this walk, I learn every day how much God really is The Father, and what a great Father! He's so patient, and so loving. He teaches us, and gives us baby steps to follow on the path to holiness. He blesses others so they can teach us His ways and help us to grow in understanding. Right now, our Lord is helping me through a wonderful book called Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The authors use Biblical principals to show us how important it is to have proper boundaries with all those people in our lives- as well as ourselves and how those boundaries define who we are and affect every aspect of our lives.

TRAIN UP A CHILD

Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

To garden is to learn more about the Father and His wishes for us! He tells us to train up a child. What does this mean? We have to give the children a firm knowledge of the faith that Christ gave us- a path to follow- through teaching and example and practice! We are to know, love, and serve our Lord. We are to follow the 10 Commandments! We are to do it God's way, not our way!

Can you imagine the fate of this beautiful vine if it had nothing to climb? It would fall to the ground. When the rains came, it would get trampled in the mud. The beauty would be gone! Parts of it might continue to grow- but it would be on the ground- searching desperately for something to climb, attaching itself to any weeds that are in its path. It would attach itself to anything that appeared to be going upward, because that is the direction that God created it to go. If it is unable to find anything, it will start to twist around itself, until it chokes the very life out of itself.

Therefore, train up a child that they may bloom as God intends!

Walking on Water

One day in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord spoke to my heart:

Keep your eyes on Me, and you can walk on water.

Since that day, I dwell on this message, and try to keep it close to my heart. What do I think that our Lord was telling me? Well, it’s really nothing new! It’s the same thing that He says in the Gospel. We are to keep our eyes on things above. We are to follow Christ’s example. Why is that so important? Well, right now the world is seething in darkness. Evil is tempting us at every turn. We don’t even step our feet out of bed before evil begins planting those negative thoughts in our minds!

“I can’t even believe that Marcy said that about me yesterday.”

We have a choice. We can entertain evil, and sit in Satan’s lair all day, or we can start looking above, and praise God for another day! When we choose to stare into the darkness too long, it’s tentacles grab us and bring us deeper into the darkness.

“She’s such a gossip. I hope she gets hers some day!”

"I don't deserve this. I am so tired of having to deal with this."

More negative thoughts come our way, and pretty soon we find ourselves sitting on the seat of despair. This is what Satan wants! He starts out by tempting us to look ever so closely at the faults of those around us, and then he leads us into misery itself! It’s so slow and methodical that we do not even see it happening! Lack of forgiveness is like a cancer that grows in our body! It is a cancer that kills the soul! We have to fight this temptation of the evil one! He wants nothing more than our complete destruction. And the secret is that it has NOTHING to do with Marcy! Isn’t it ironic that he is so successful at destroying us when we don’t let go of the pain that others have caused us!

Keep your eyes on Me

What do we see when we keep our eyes on Jesus? We see Him keeping his mouth closed when others accuse Him. We see Him forgiving those people who crucify Him when they ABSOLUTELY do NOT deserve it! This is what we are to do! Yes, I said that this is what we are to do! And not just with those people who really aren’t that bad! We are to do this with those that are the worst…those that crucify us…those that spread lies and hurt! When it’s easy- it’s not considered a cross! A cross is heavy and burdensome!

We are to pick up our cross and follow Him!

Matthew 10:38
"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."

Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."

We are to bless the Marcy’s in our lives! We are to look past their negative qualities and see Christ in their faces. We are to ask God to help them. Now, this does not mean that we have to have lunch with Marcy, or hang out with Marcy, but we do have to forgive Marcy!

THIS my dear friends, is walking on water, but when we are so busy looking at the personal storms in our lives, it is impossible! We must keep our eyes on Jesus, or else we drown! So, together, let's keep our eyes on Jesus, and walk on water!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Heart of a Mother

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “… (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 3: 34-35

The heart of a mother! To have children is to have little pieces of your heart walking outside of your body! When they hurt, you hurt, and it can be one of the greatest pains imaginable, a piercing of the heart! How hard it can be to trust in God during these times when you see such pain in your child, and you feel such a piercing in your heart! There’s something else going on with this bond, though! Something beyond what can be seen, something Godly! Surely God created this special heart in women for a reason! When a mother looks into her child’s eyes, and feels the pain in their hearts, there is a heavenly bond there, a comfort amidst the pain. It is the reason that a young child cries for his mommy when he is in pain or scared. The love of the mother is so strong, that it reaches out beyond her body and envelopes her child. The child feels that love, and even if the child continues to suffer, it suffers while feeling loved, which is entirely different than suffering alone!

I can’t imagine the pain in Mary’s heart as she gazed at her little boy on the cross. Yes, to us He is Jesus! King of Kings and Lord of Lords! To Mary, it was her boy, in pain and suffering- while being ridiculed. Sure, God had a greater purpose in Christ’s suffering. To Mary, it was a piercing of her heart, and when we suffer with our children, we get a glimpse of what our Heavenly Mother felt as she watched Jesus hanging on that cross. It is excruciating! It can make your whole body sick, and send you to a place of agony that you did not know possible without having some physical ailment! But, here He was, the Creator of our universe, receiving comfort by the mere presence of His mother while she was feeling the pain of His suffering. And we must trust God in the same way that Mary trusted God because this suffering is for a reason, and we pray that God brings us through it, and we ask our Heavenly Mother to pray with us, because she too, shares in our sufferings and makes sure that the thoughts of our hearts may be revealed.

Stick Drawings!

Through the past few years, God has been teaching me many lessons. Many times He chooses to teach me these lessons through the faults of those around me! After all, it's SOO much easier for us to see the wrong that others do! We, of course, do things perfectly- right?? Well, not so much! But- it's harder for us to see our own errors, especially when they are done with a pure heart! I believe that God calls us to deeper communion with Him so that we cannot not only do good, but we can do God's good!!!

When God taught me this lesson, we were preparing our house for a visit from someone- can't remember who- but that detail doesn't really matter. What I do remember is that the house REALLY needed cleaning, and as usual, we had a deficit of time! Well, our main floor was the second floor of our house. The first floor consisted of the garage, the basement, and the laundry room. For some reason, I had to be away from the house. I know it had to be a good reason, because no one in their right mind would leave a messy house with guests on the way! I did ask my husband to get things started, though! I had dreams of bathrooms being scrubbed and kitchen floors being mopped! You know- the things people will see. The things that matter when you are cleaning a house! Well, when I arrived back home, I could not find my husband. On my search of the house, I finally located him cleaning the carpet in the basement laundry room! He had worked SO hard- and the carpet down in the basement laundry room--- away from where ANYONE but God and us would see- looked GREAT!!!!!! I swallowed what I wanted to say and praised my husband for doing such a GREAT job on cleaning that basement laundry room floor! Wow did it look great! As I walked away, God told me that sometimes his children do that as well! Sometimes we work REALLY hard on something that is good, and it DOES please Him the same way our children's stick drawings please us! We put them on the refrigerator and boast at what a beautiful little artist we have! But at some point we must move beyond the stick drawings! All of our good actions please our Lord, but it is MOST pleasing and MOST helpful is when we do the thing that HE wants us to do! It is then that our work can be used for the MOST benefit to the Kingdom of Heaven!

May you all do God's will, and may the world be blessed!