Choose Well Suffer Well

Emotionally speaking, I don't want you to suffer.  I want to protect you forever.  Will you consider Safety Tip #7 from Officer Buckle and Gloria and wear a helmet at all times, for my sake? 

There is much suffering in our hearts, bodies, relationships, and world that is out of our control. There are some who choose to inflict gratuitous suffering upon themselves wrongly. Yet, there is a way to choose to personally suffer - to do what is hard - for good reason and purpose. Athletes choose to suffer physical pain to improve their skills and strive for victory. Academics choose to suffer mental tension in order to delve more deeply into subject matter and/or to get good grades. Workers choose to suffer when they smile at a cranky customer, follow the directions of a bully boss, or allow a subordinate an unearned mercy, in order to earn income. Patients choose to follow treatment plans to heal. Each suffers and sacrifices, gives up, something less important in order to gain something more important.

As we begin Lent, we are asked to sacrifice, let go, or give up something - to do something hard in order to draw closer to God.  Lent is a perfect season to learn how to choose and suffer well.  From EWTN:

Give up complaining - focus on gratitude.
Give up pessimism - become an optimist.
Give up harsh judgments - think kindly thoughts.
Give up worry - trust Divine Providence.
Give up discouragement - be full of hope.
Give up bitterness - turn to forgiveness.
Give up hatred - return good for evil.
Give up negativism - be positive.
Give up anger - be more patient.
Give up pettiness - become mature.
Give up gloom - enjoy the beauty that is all around you.
Give up jealousy - pray for trust.
Give up gossiping - control your tongue.
Give up sin - turn to virtue.
Give up giving up - hang in there!

Reasonably speaking, I know you suffer.  My love, prayers, support, and encouragement to hang in there are with you.

Love,
Mom

Your Extraordinary Smile

Thank you for smiling at me today.  Your smile reassured me; told me in a small way that you were OK and that we were OK.  Your smile let me know that you could see I needed feedback; you saw beyond yourself to see me.  I remember the first time you smiled at me.  That smile came at just the right moment, when I was tired and wondering if I could be a good mom to you as a baby.  After so many years, I'm still often tired and wondering.  I appreciate even more now than then, the reassurance that your smile brings to me.

Technically, smiling is ordinary and easy to do. But in actuality, smiling is extraordinary and difficult.  It is hard to smile when you're tired, hungry, angry, lonely, overwhelmed, bored, hurting, or confused.  Yet, you chose to smile your one-of-a-kind smile.

As we leave the Liturgical Season of Ordinary Time to enter Lent this Ash Wednesday, it seems fitting to consider the act of ordinary smiling and how something ordinary can be full of purpose, meaning, and love. Consider your extraordinary smile as proof!

Thank you for smiling at me today. Can you see me smiling back at you? :)

Love,
Mom

Love Songs to Sing

Whether in a great book or film, the scene of a heroic man serenading his beloved woman strikes the heart as gutsy and intimate. And the greatest love songs of all time, aren't found on a billboard chart or music video.  They are found in the Book of Psalms. Here are a few examples chosen from 150...

Test me, LORD, and try me; search my heart and mind. Your love is before my eyes; I walk guided by your faithfulness. 26: 2-3

I will rejoice and be glad in your love, once you have seen my misery, observed my distress. 31: 8

Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your kindness. 31: 17

But I shall sing of your strength, extol your love at dawn, For you are my fortress, my refuge in time of trouble. 59: 17

Lord, you are kind and forgiving, most loving to all who call on you. 86: 5

Good indeed is the Lord, Whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age. 100: 5

Be gutsy and sing, talk, pray, and love God "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 10:27) He loves you intimately. Your voice is music to His ears.

Love,
Mom