Friends,
In all honesty I wasn’t sure this newsletter was going to get out to you, and even so some parts will be shorter because I’m human and recovering from our trip. We only got home on Saturday afternoon, exhausted and ran errands, went to church, did chores - writing was low on the totem poll. And yet there is so much to be said…
This week I had the incredible honor to have a front row seat to how God is working in the everyday lives of Catholic families in our country. There were some fantastical stories, from missionary work to moves across the country, it was abundantly clear God was moving and working. However, it was in the little moments shared that my attention was piqued. Here, in the difficult, heavy lift of hidden, ordinary life, when the excitement is gone, daily challenges mount, and the weight of life seems almost too much to bear, that God was also moving. Moving in the most beautiful, profound ways. In ways where He is speaking words of Life and Truth to those seeking Him but still feeling lost. Whispering “ I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
As our family moves into the heat of Summer, I think I will be taking with me those little moments of God revealing His true self - His faithfulness, His Love, His Mercy, His willingness to meet us in our ugliest, loneliest moments. I’ll be pondering His desire to be with us - always.
3 2 Quick Takes
A lot of my thoughts are swirling around our time at Family Camp this week. It was the most fulfilling, and restful time for my mind and soul. To that end, do yourself and your family a favor - schedule intentional time at a retreat. At least once a year to reset, recharge, and refocus on God and on yourself, your family, your habits, your hopes, where you’ve fallen short. We have been so convinced that we just have to keep going, and that taking time away from our life (work, school, family, caregiving) to be still and think, reflect, pray is not worth our time. Friends, not only is it worth your time, it is an invaluable use of your time. I hope you will consider it, pray about it and then schedule the time to make it happen.
Caregivers are my heroes. I myself am a caregiver of small people and of my son with CP yet this isn’t about me. This is about, specifically, two families I met at our family camp this week. One family has a little two year old boy with CP and other medically complex conditions, the other has a 7 year old boy with spina bifida and autism. Heroes. The lot of them. These families are not only doing the best they can and rocking it, whether they see that or not, but they are modeling something priceless to the rest of us - Love within Sacrifice and Sacrifice within Love. The essence of Cruciform Love. They lay down their very lives - their time, their energy, their mental sanity, all of it - for their children and their child with special needs. Through appointments, specialists, surgeries, medicines, equipment, day-to-day care, supplies, insurance, transportation, plus all the regular things that life requires. I can’t stress enough that if you know someone in your life who is a caregiver - call them, invite them out, be present to them, bring them a coffee. Above all pray for them.
Devotional Corner
We love God because He loved us first (1 Jn 4:19).
Last week I wrote about Trust, specifically that it can take a lifetime, but that God is up for the challenge. Little did I know that when I hit “send” and then hopped in the car to head to Family camp for the week that the topic of discussion would be on Trust.
I often find that when God is highlighting something, He brings it into fuller focus in my life so I can’t miss it. This probably has something to do with a prayer I used to pray “Father, I am pretty thick-skulled. Hit me over the head with your word so I can’t miss it.” He has happily obliged.
We had our group discussions, and many families shared these incredible moments that required great trust in God. Other’s shared regular, daily moments when trusting God felt especially hard. It was all so good, and beautiful to hear but that isn’t where God decided to flip the script.
It was in confession.
I was talking to the priest, sharing where I felt the Holy Spirit had shown me what sins I needed to confess, what I needed to work on in my relationship with God, some background on why I thought this is the case and the priest replied “You know, and tell me if I’m way off base here, but I suspect that it’s not so much (insert this sin) but more that you don’t really trust yourself. I think you should know, and this is just a gut feeling… God trusts you.”
Consider the script flipped.
After we found some tissues, and talked a bit more, I stepped out of the confessional, said my penance, and just sat with what the priest said. I’ve been pondering it for days now.
“We love, because He first loved us.”
Perhaps, and maybe I’m way off base here, but perhaps we’ve had the ability to trust God all along because He first trusted us. This ability to trust Him is deeply rooted within us, written on our hearts, as is our ability to love God. Not because of our own ability but because God gave it to us first.
Yes, we sometimes fail miserably with that gift. Yet, that is what Grace is for, yes? To provide the ability for us to grow in Love, in Faith, in Trust, in Truth, in Goodness - to become more like Him.
And this gift, whether it is Love, Faith - Trust, is something we can ask for often. Something we can seek out in lock-step with the Lord. It isn’t a task we are meant to take on alone, as some sort of test to see if we have “enough.” This means we don’t have to worry about if we are trusting God enough in those small, unseen, difficult moments.
It means that if we ask, God will provide because He actually has already done so. We simply have to remember to ask Him to show us how.
Discussion Questions:
This section is a starting off point to help you go deeper with topics discussed above.
In what ways do you struggle to trust yourself? Is there a moment or moments from your childhood or as a young adult that led to this distrust? Consider asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten you as to what these might be and ask for healing. “Lord, I don’t trust myself in ___ way, yet you have trusted me in so many ways. Trusted me to choose you. Trusted me to share the Good News of your Son. Trusted me to ____. Help me to see myself as you do and show me the ways you have trusted me.”
If trusting yourself is not an issue for you, please consider praying for those in this community that do struggle with this.
Last week I suggested the Litany of Trust. Well, someone mentioned to me that there is a book: Jesus I Trust in You: a 30 Day Personal Retreat. I’ll admit I’m personally not ready for this but in case you are, it is linked above.
Quote of the Week
“Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God’s hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child.” Saint Edith Stein
Do You Garden?
I’ll admit I expected a few more gardeners in this group but that’s ok. I’ll happily be in the minority for now with hopes of wooing a few more of you over to the garden side of life over time. Here are the results from last week’s poll:
This week’s Poll.
You are an amazing Godly women. So proud of you!