I have been thinking about Brian’s article about Bl. Maria Celine and pondering that the only way she could have endured so many major crosses in her life was by first enduring the little crosses of her life. That got me thinking about how I am doing in comparison. There are so many times throughout the day when little things just bug me – plans have to be changed, Andrew makes yet another mess, something breaks down, ants are all over the kitchen, etc.
Sometime I am able to take a deep breath and offer up the inconvenience to Our Lord but too often, I get aggravated and upset. I remember one time I was sharing this with a priest in confession and I’ll never forget his response, “What makes you so special that you think you shouldn’t have inconveniences in your life?” He was very kind and sincere in how he said it, but the question delivered the swift kick in the rear I needed. Oh yeah, I guess that little pride thing has been getting in the way again.
So I’ve been trying to see all the little crosses in daily life as my opportunity to practice humility and self-surrender. Sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a miss but I’m working on it. (Ah, Andrew just tipped over the trash can onto the floor. I didn’t know I was going to have to practice quite so soon! Later.)
Category Archives: motherhood
Little Crosses
Looking for Catholic Baby Shower Ideas
Last week I went to a baby shower for one of our local Catholic moms and it was the second one I attended that had Catholic elements incorporated into the activities and gifts. I loved it and thought it would be great to put together a list of ideas on how to make a baby shower reflect your shared Catholic faith. Please tell me about ideas you’ve seen or used in the past. You can email me at rol@revolutionoflove.com (or answer in the comment box) and I’ll post the answers on the blog and website. Thanks!
UPDATE: I finally did make a post on this. See Catholic Baby Shower Ideas.
Termination Is Not An Option
Okay, I was supposed to sign off after the last post but I quickly checked out Trisha’s blog and I had to comment on her post The Gift of a Child about parents choosing to keep or abort their unborn babies with medical problems. As I mentioned to her, when I was pregnant with Bella, Brian and I were sitting in the doc office (not our regular obgyn) waiting for the same check-the baby-for-deformities ultrasound. There was a little TV playing and on it there were other couples talking about when they took the test. One mom talked about how she found out her baby had medical problems so she chose “termination.” Brian and I were shocked to see it “advertised” in the waiting room.
This time, when I was pregnant with Andrew, I told my obgyn Dr. V that I wanted to skip all that testing. Being a Christian, pro-life doc, he understood that we’d never abort if there was something wrong but he encouraged me to take the non invasive tests so if there was a problem he’d be able to prepare for it before delivery. (I thought about babies that went through surgery before they were even delivered!) So we went for the ultrasound and minimal genetic testing.
When we arrived at the ultrasound office we explained to them that we were only doing this so if there is something wrong, we could prepare to do whatever was medically necessary to help our baby. Termination was a word never to be uttered before us. The genetics testing lady clucked her tongue a bit but she complied. It’s crazy that we had to be so adamant and fight for our baby’s life before he was even born!
Ugh, that fired me up! Hand me the vacuum. I’ve got some serious cleaning to do…
Quick Guide to Prayer Meditation
A friend was asking me about how I do a morning meditation and how it differs from sitting quietly and repeating an “ooom” mantra. Well, the purpose of my meditation is to quiet myself down (my head can be going a mile a minute) and to turn my heart and mind towards God in order that I may converse with Him, draw closer to Him and allow Him to guide me in the rest of my day. It’s basically spending quiet time with the one you love.
I admit that, unlike Brian, it doesn’t come easy to me to sit and pray. I have to work at it so that even on days when I feel rushed, I can give God some quality quiet time. Starting my day off this way helps me to keep Him in focus when the rest of the day is crazy with typical mommy duties. Some prefer to take this prayer time in the evening or at 2am when they are feeding a newborn. Go for whatever works for you. Start small and work your way up.
You might want to use a prayer book, scripture, spiritual reading or a daily devotional book (particularly for moms or Catholic woman) to get you started. Then let your heart speak to God one on one. Spend a few minutes in quiet so God can speak to your heart. Close with words of thanksgiving. Finally, to put your prayer into action you can pick something you’ll work on that day based on your meditation/conversation with God.
Ten Worst Baby Products EVER
My sis forwarded this to me this morning and I had to share it with you. (Thanks, EL!) It is all together frightening, pathetic and hilarious. Enjoy the laugh and your day!
From Creative Minority Report.com: Ten Worst Baby Products EVER!