stop and smell the roses Archives

Stop! Open your spirit to God’s call.

In my last reflection I talked about how God reveals himself to us. I focused on all the good, true and beautiful ways He reveals himself to me as an example and reminder for us all to stop and smell the roses. Unfortunately, sometimes God reveals himself to us in ways we wished he never would. These revelations sometimes cause us sadness and pain. Never was this more obvious to me than this past week.

This past week was a tough one, one that tested my trust and faith in the Lord. One that threatened my peace. Despite the tests, beyond the suffering, here I am. By the grace of God I have found my strength. I started my week with a phone call from my niece. She was calling to let me know that my brother was in the hospital. He had gone in for groin pain that was causing him difficulty walking. Given his history of testicular cancer, almost thirty years ago, my niece insisted that the hospital run several tests. Blood was drawn and CT Scans done which revealed an enlarged liver and spleen and a very high white blood cell count. My first reaction was “oh boy!”. After I hung up with my niece, my second reaction was to cry – this couldn’t be good. Those of you who know me well, know that I am NOT a pessimist – far from it – so this reaction surprised even me. I decided to take a ride to the hospital to be by his side during this trying time and to support my niece and sister-in-law, who were functioning on very little sleep. I noticed, as I was getting ready, that I was frazzled – I was rushing around like a chicken without a head, doing three things at once, out of breath and going nowhere fast. What the? I began to chastise myself: what happened to this peace you always talk about? What happened to your faith and trust in God? What happened to God’s “I got this?” I forced myself to slow down. I began to focus again on my God who is an awesome God! I reached out to my prayer warriors and suddenly my mood changed. There’s something to be said about surrender – when you realize things are out of your control and you call upon the will of God to be done, whatever the circumstance. I realized that prayer – my prayers and the knowledge that others were praying with and for us – brought me great comfort. When I turned my attention back to my heavenly Father, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was astonished at how quickly I was able to switch gears. It was a confirmation for me of how much I’ve changed. I got right back to my faith and trust and I was able to remain in peace, knowing the situation is in God’s hands. We’re still not sure what the final diagnosis is but we’re confident it will be treatable and curable.

One thing I have to say is that God never ceases to amaze me. Each day, as I begin to ponder certain thoughts or scripture verses, he continues to provide me with material throughout the day to further drive home the point, either through my reading, a sermon I hear, emails, websites. Everything always seems to have a common theme for the day. The situation with my brother started last Monday. On Tuesday I sat in church after mass praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. As I pondered each mystery, I was struck by the second mystery – The Scourging at the Pillar. The fruit of this mystery is purity. I thought: The scourging, Christ’s suffering bears the fruit of purity and I immediately related it to our lives. Our suffering, which Fr. Richard Rohr says is our lack of control, results in our purification. What I mean by that is our suffering serves to break us open. It forces us to switch gears, it stops us dead in our tracks. Our suffering is meant to purify and transform us. We are meant to journey through our suffering, as Christ did on the road to Calvary, and come out better on the other side, our spirits renewed. If we remain the same old person we were before our suffering, then we’ve suffered in vain, we’ve done it all wrong. Suffering is the time to ask ourselves, what is this meant to teach us.

I know for me, although I am trusting all will be well with my brother, I wonder what this ordeal is meant to teach us, as individuals and as a family. Of course, as a family I think we are called to understand that life is too short and that just as we come together in support and love in difficult moments, we should focus on that same love and support everyday. We need to take the time to visit one another, talk on the phone, say I love you and most importantly let bygones be bygones. As an individual, I’m reminded to not sweat the small stuff because there are much more serious things in this world we can “sweat.”

I come from a large family, many different personalities and egos with many years of pain. I pray everyday for healing of family relationships, I pray often that my parents will get to see us all in one place enjoying each others’ company without the tension that usually comes with our family gatherings. I see my prayers being answered slowly but surely and I wonder if this whole ordeal is God’s way of continuing to answer and bringing us closer together. Sometimes He answers us in ways we never dreamed. I wonder if my family members will “get it.” Will we, as a family, come out better on the other side or will my brother’s sacrifice be in vain? Pray for us – for strength and comfort, for conversions, for forgiveness, for healing in all forms! Thank you in advance and may God bless you always!

Stop and smell the roses!

Stop and smell the roses! On Saturday February 13, 2016, I began my morning in prayer as I usually do. First, the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office). I downloaded the Divine Office “app” to my phone so instead of reading it, I use it as a meditation. I plug my headphones in and close my eyes to listen as the prayers are read. As I listened, Exodus 3:1-20 was read. Verses 1-3 spoke to me: Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father in law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire, flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight and see why the bush is not burned.” This last sentence made my heart skip a beat. A true “aha” moment because the remarkable sight Moses stopped to look at was God communicating with him – through that I realized that all the remarkable sights I have experienced in my life were God speaking to me. Most recently, the hummingbird feeding out of the palm of my hand (Hummingbird), the cedar waxwings gathering material for a nest, the great horned owl perched atop a tree in my front yard, the vegetables growing in my garden, the sap of sugar maples pouring into buckets hanging off their trunks – all these things and more, which I’ve had the privilege of witnessing are God speaking to me. I’ve had the privilege because as busy as I get I make time to just be and savor the beauty of God’s creation. It certainly takes practice to put things on hold knowing that they’ll still be there tomorrow, but there will ALWAYS be something to do tomorrow. Nothing is ever really finished! So why not take time today to nourish the soul?! This is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. We can learn so much from the remarkable sights God uses to speak to us. I, for one, have learned more about patience, persistence, perseverance, obedience and trust, just to name a few. Moses’ words made me realize that whatever I perceive to be remarkable I must “go over to look at” because it’s God’s way of getting my attention. It’s God’s way of telling me: “Hey you, look over here, stop and smell the roses!”

As I continued with my prayer on Saturday, I moved on to another app pray as you go (hey, if you’re going to give in to the latest technology, you might as well use it for good!) – there I listened and meditated on the Gospel of Luke 4:1-13 which talks about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. The message of Exodus couldn’t be any clearer in this Gospel. After reading the passage, the narrator of the app posed an interesting question: does it surprise you that Jesus was tempted in such a way? Couldn’t he have carried out his mission in a more spectacular way? He goes on to say: Jesus seems to believe His father wants Him to work in quieter, more hidden ways. Think of ways Jesus is working in your life – is He present there with noise and spectacle or is He working in more discreet ways, ways that may often be overlooked by the unobservant.

Two different readings with a similar message: Jesus, in his constant humility, chooses to reveal Himself to us in subtle yet powerful ways. Don’t miss out simply because you have “things to do.” Whenever you come across something that grabs your attention, that moves you heart and soul, don’t ignore it, don’t overlook it – be observant and allow God to speak to you through the remarkable, as he did with Moses. There’s a message waiting, a lesson to be learned in that “remarkable sight.” Go over to look! God bless you!