Happiness

Be Still

The Lord Himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.

Here is how the Lord addresses us as He did to the chosen people. My how thankful I am for this important teaching! Around us there is a perfect storm of modernity and secularism, not knowing our story (history of civilization both secular and religious), sin, our own personal struggles (be it health, wealth, or time), and forgetting that we are a part of a family (both in our natural family and Church family).

God calls us deeper than the storm. He challenges us to be still and listen for Him. Since we are a people peculiarly his own, there comes the promise of His care and His fighting all the surrounding foe.

Since God fights for us, we can be at peace. No worries should trouble us and the secular materialistic mentality should pass us by. What is our enemy? All of us have a personal cross and battle. Then there is the problem of the secular community around us being too focused on oneself and passing pleasures. Not knowing our story is another enemy.

What does God say? Be still. Think of the chosen people who have just been lead out of Egypt. They saw amazing works of God and then they get to hardship in the dessert and they forget God’s promise and complain. What is God’s response to Moses for the people? Manna and quail and water from the rock. He is generous and merciful.

There is the law given to them of how to act. God is in the center of the camp and the tribes of Jacob camped around Him in the cloud of glory and the holy tent with the arc of the covenant. They were given the Ten Commandments and other specific commands to learn the heart of God in true freedom from slavery.

Israel had a very bad problem. They kept turning to their troubles instead of trusting God. They blamed Him for being seemingly silent and set up for themselves idolatry. After God’s just wrath, He still promises to bring them into the promised land and for them to be peculiarly His own by the covenant to their fathers.

When they arrive safely to this land, God charges them to scout out the land to see the cities and peoples and fruit so they know what they face and what they can receive. But instead of keeping this silence and trust they are frightened by what they see and come back saying, “We can’t do it! The people are mighty! Yes the fruit is good it flows with milk and honey but the people are too strong for us!” Caleb and Joshua stand against this and say, “God can fight for us let us go up!”

But the people are so frightened they turn again to relying on their own strength and in punishment they are sent back to the wilderness for forty years and will not see the promised land. Their children will. They even try to attack after God has told them this punishment and are utterly defeated.

Just like the chosen people coming into the promised land, we need to know the enemy. I can learn so much from this story and it should lead me to three things. 1) Do I know my enemy? Name it. 2) Do I give into fear instead of letting God lead and bless me? 3) I am a chosen vessel and part of the family of God’s people. And this means I should be radically different because my home is heaven and being one with God.

God was very specific how His people should be in the Old Testament (Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy). This means I should be attentive to the heart of God and listen to His voice and follow His commands so that it goes well.

Three questions for your own reflection:

1)What is part of the daily bread God gives me? What is my why, my direction? What is God’s plan for me?

2) What is my cross? I must embrace it as part and parcel and not let fear rule me. I need to face it and build from it for my children and family.

3)What am I doing to show the world that I am a radical disciple of Jesus Christ? Be specific and ask God to show you what He wants you to do that is different and sets you apart.

Some helpful links:

http://ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear

https://thebenedictoption.com Benedict Option community

Having a Spiritual Base

We all have a family and a community that we actually need the presence of. My last post talked about the necessity of not being an island and testing loneliness as a thermometer of where your heart is. The first tick mark was our relationship with God.

Here is where we can grow the most. With God, there is also a family just like we are born into a human family we are also brought into the family of God through Baptism. In this family we also grow and mature into one. The Trinity is a threesome of persons in one God.

This is an important fact. We need this family. As a Mom, it is important to bring my children up into this fold. Where you go to Church is important. It is here that you are fed. You need a base. But it is not just about being fed either. Everyone of us have a point where the emotion is there. The homily and readings speak right to where our heart is. (This is a great opportunity for thanksgiving.) But a lot of us may be at a point where we go through the motions and just show up.

This is where growth can come. It is where we show God we love Him. The orthodoxy and vibrancy of our parish may be a rock solid strong place. (Wonderful keep faithful and thankful.) I had the honor of growing up in such a place. But striking out as a new family unit forced me to expand my horizons and become apart of another community.

I had to come to the realization that even though I may miss how things were done, it is not about me or how I would rather it be. First and foremost it is my relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. But in receiving we must also give. It is about serving the community I am in and becoming active and putting myself out there and reaching out. Just like I serve my human family daily, so must I to my spiritual family.

There are so many ways to do this. The first is actually registering in a parish. Then become active in supporting and growing it. Time talent treasure. Financial giving, gift sharing, and time to help support current ministries. Get involved. Ask what ministries are present and plug in. Get to know your spiritual father and the rest of the community. Begin to build in the way you can. Give to God first out of everything.

Perhaps you are like me. Busy with a toddler of two and only a few weeks away from expecting my second and you find yourself with no time. That does not free us from growing the family of God. Here it is possible to offer what we do as prayer for needs of the community. Maybe now at this time God is asking you to be a prayer warrior and intercessor for needs that come up of your pastor and other members. Set a time to talk to him. Let him know your presence and support. Perhaps also to be a connector and a listener. Perhaps opening your family to be family for a shut in or single person or family that needs family.

You need the network of the Church. You need its ministries. Why? To prevent selfishness and open the heart to receive and give love. We cannot give from what we do not have. And we cannot have unless we first receive from God. He is the mover and giver. We cooperate but it is He who acts in our hearts. To say otherwise is prideful.

Being a busy mom does not free us from the responsibility of giving and working in the family of God, the Church. It is here that death to excuses (and myself) must occur and we make the time, however limited. I can be monkish in a good way and make my home a house of prayer in word and deed in every situation. This falls right in line with my role as a wife and mother to be the heart of the home. Maybe I don’t have the time to clean the church or participate in volunteering but I do have the time to open myself to the work of the Holy Spirit and find the little ways to serve.