God is enough!! I should end this post right there! Today, I opened my Bible to Ezekiel 44:25-31. The verse continues with Ezekiel’s vision and a description of the “new law.” It’s an address to priests about ritual but it got me thinking of what takes place in confession: we’re made clean by the forgiveness of sins and then we leave the confessional to do penance. Penance, despite what many people think, is not meant as a punishment. Penance is meant to help heal the soul and repair the spiritual damage caused by sin. Verse 26 says “on the day he enters the inner court to serve in the sanctuary, he shall present a purification offering for himself.” If that doesn’t sound like penance……….. We leave the confessional and continue the healing and purification process through penance before we enter the “inner court” to receive what we KNOW to be the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist. How beautiful is that?!

What REALLY struck me today was verse 28 – “I will be their heritage: I am their heritage! You shall not give them any property in Israel for I am their property!” The more I pondered, the clearer it became that God is enough! When He is the center of our lives, that’s when we truly begin to live the “abundance” promised by Christ.

The dictionary definition of abundance is: having a very large, plentiful quantity of something, so there is more than enough to meet your needs. Today I’ll continue to meditate on what it means to live in abundance – beyond the usual thought of being blessed or having plenty. God is love, He is enough and He IS abundance! Let’s sit with that for a while! God bless you!

The little things in life that are meant to teach us. This weekend one little thing taught me a few lessons. Let me explain. This is the second year I collected monarch butterfly eggs from my garden. Last year I raised 18 butterflies, some of which I tagged to track. This year, I was actually in my garden when the monarch was laying her eggs and got to witness it first hand. I saw each leaf she landed on and was able to collect 25 eggs. I was so excited. This year was going to be better than last year.

Well, things didn’t go as planned. This year was NOT better than last year. I wound up with 6 larvae surviving to chrysalis stage. I have to admit – each time I would pass the habitat, a little part of me would feel really disappointed at the fact that this year was not as bountiful as last. Of course I blame myself for the losses – maybe I was less attentive this year, less patient, who knows. No one knows why things happen the way they do. We just have to be grateful for what we have. The truth is, butterfly larvae have a very low survival rate. So any one I was able to save is a plus.

This weekend I got to thinking – and the first lesson…….why am I upset or disappointed about what I don’t have? Why am I focused on the larvae I don’t have as opposed to the chrysalides I DO have? I just need to be grateful. Grateful for the 6 surviving ones, grateful for the opportunity to experience nature in this way and grateful for the joy it brings. As you can imagine, gratitude changes things.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given my mom advice about looking on the bright side. Sometimes I get really frustrated because I feel like my advice is falling on deaf ears! Therein lies the second lesson – take your own advice missy! This got me thinking about self awareness. How self aware are we? Do we give advice to others but fail to follow that same advice? Do we get frustrated at others for doing the exact same things we do?

So today I choose to be more self aware and grateful. I’ll “stay in my lane” focused on the positive. How can I claim to be a glass half full type, if I’m focusing on the negative.

Are you a glass half full or glass half empty type? What are you focusing on in your life? Today, work on self awareness and focus on the positive. Choose gratitude! God bless you!