Agony in the Garden

WEEDING.

If you have a garden, it must be done. It isn’t much fun to do, people usually put it off way to long, and then they dread having to spend ALL day (or two or three) outside working to restore their once beautiful garden. I’ve had my fair share of weeding time this summer, so I speak from personal experience.

Weeding is necessary because it allows the plants who were chosen to be in the garden to grow and flourish. It eliminates the competition. Allowing the plants to have full access to the nutrients they need to live. If one does not weed a garden, the weeds choke, bind, and overgrow the plants that are supposed to be in the garden. The plants will then either stop growing or die all together, neither of which is what the gardener intended.

Similarly, as Catholics we need to remember to weed the garden of our souls. Confession is a powerful Sacrament, by which our gardens are beautified once again. Through confession, we eliminate the competition for our love. All sins and idols are removed; we are released from their grasp. God frees us so that we may now live, totally and completely for Him. Giving Him all of our love, and using of all the gifts He bestowed on us to further His kingdom. If we choose not to go to confession, we are allowing ourselves to be held captive and choked by the weeds that have entered our garden.

Weeding is not always easy, the ground can be dry and hard or it could be super soft from rain. When the ground is hard and dry, it is easy to simply pull the tops off of the weeds. You can no longer see anything sticking out of the ground, so the problem has been eliminated right? Well, not quite. Your garden may look good for a few days or weeks but come back a month later and it is all over grown again! Talk about frustrating!! However, if you put in the extra work and time to dig down a little bit and discover the root of the weed, you can pull the whole thing up! And with the whole weed pulled up, your garden will flourish greatly!

Similarly, it is difficult at times to get yourself to confession. Why go? I’ve told God that I am sorry, and I truly am, so why do I need to go to confession? Why, because through the Sacrament of confession God pours grace upon grace on your garden. He gives you to tools needed to get down to the root of the weeds, and the strength to pull them up. With God’s grace moistening your garden, and the proper tools in hand, it will be much easier to remove the next weeds that spring up in your garden.

The longer you wait, the harder your ground becomes. So don’t put off weeding your garden!

Allow God to rain His graces upon you to beautify your soul once again!!

A Little Something I learned at Bible Study

Hello again! So this post is interactive, meaning you are going to need to put forth a slight bit of effort. So go grab your Bible and then continue on!

Slowly read Acts 5:12-42, and then continue.

Woah. Sounds like the apostles were having a bit of a rough time, to say the least. They were simply going about their daily life; preaching and healing when they were throw in jail for following the commands of God. They did not despair. The apostles had hope and faith that God would rescue them; they did not worry or fear they simply trusted.

And God rescued them indeed! They were led out of the jail and commanded to go and tell all people about their new way of life. When it was noticed that the apostles were missing from their cell and instead found in the temple, the high priest questioned them, “We gave you strict orders to stop teaching in that name. Yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ~Acts 5:28. To which they replied, “We must obey God, not man.” ~Acts 5:29

Gamaliel then spoke to the people, bidding them to be careful about what they do to these men. Saying, “have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” ~Acts 5:38-39

So, the apostles were flogged and dismissed. And upon their departure they were “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” ~Act 5:41

In this life we are called to imitate the apostles; and that is one tremendous task! We are called to share our faith with all of those around us, knowing that it will not always be peaches and cream, that we will face persecution and opposition. But instead of backing down or despairing we are called to live boldly, knowing that the truth will indeed set us free. And set free, you will always be when you learn to obey God rather than man.

In a reflection by the “A to Z Guide to Bible Application” it is written, ‘Faith in God does not make troubles disappear. Rather, it makes troubles appear less fearsome because it puts them in the right perspective. You cannot expect everyone to react favorably when you share something as dynamic as your faith in Christ. But remember that you must be more concerned about God’s reactions than people’s.’ <--Epic win!

The high priest did not want the apostles to be teaching or ‘bringing this man’s blood upon us.’ However that is EXACTLY what we are called to do. To teach, by example and words, the way of Christ and to bring His blood upon everyone, for in Christ’s blood alone are we purified.

Troubles will arise, opposition will be had; but fall on God and you will be upheld. For what is of God, no matter how brutally or consistently attacked, will stand forever. You will not be destroyed if God is your center.

And when you are attacked, REJOICE! For as the apostles, you have been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of Christ!! You were chosen from all people, because God knows that you have what it takes to withstand the hurricane of suffering. He knows this because you, His chosen one, do not have only yourself but you also have Him. And not only do you have Him, you have faith and trust that He has you, cradled in the palm of His hand; where He is and will be watching over you forever.

Life cycle of a Christian disciple:


Go out and live!
Peace

Where to?

So, I was flipping through my Bible this evening and re-stumbled across a little note that I had written, and thought it appropriate to share with you all :)

I had underlined part of Jeremmiah 11:23, which reads

man is not a master of his way; man's course is not within his choice, nor is it for him to direct his step.

Next to that I wrote in at one point

Lord, 'Which way shall I go?' should be a prayer ever on my lips.

Woah. That's a challenge from God. A challenge we strive to rise to with every choice we make, every step we take. For every smallest thing we do is either the fulfillment of God's will, thus bringing us closer to Him, or the rejection of God's will. Every. Little. Thing.

Nothing is too small to matter to God. God knows everything and has a plan for all the beautiful everythingness. There is a reason you should drive this route to work, or cut the grass today. You may not always know God's reasoning, because well let's be honest He doesn't follow our reasoning so He is kinda hard to figure out, eh maybe that has something to do with the fact that He is all-knowing and we are not. Possibility. But I'd bet my money on that possibility.

"Ask and you shall receive." ~ Matthew 7:7

Continually ask God what your next step should be. Ask Him during each moment to guide you so that you follow His will. Ask and you shall receive.

Peace and Blessings :)

Candle Like Fatih

Originally this was a note on Facebook I wrote awhile back, but I ahve been observing candles again the past couple of days and this popped into my mind, so I thought I'd share it here :) Enjoy!

So tonight at CLC we each got to light a candle and place it in front of us, which was not a new occurrence as we have done this many times in the past. Breanna was leading us in a reflection, but I was having difficulty concentrating and ended up looking intently at my candle and all the various parts. And then the next thing I know God has put this thought into my head which I have been developing since then.

Our faith is like a candle wick. At the beginning the tip is burning brightly with an intense fire, but then the fire desires more it needs more to survive. So the fire spreads down the wick and this continues each time the fire desires more. So too does our faith. In the beginning we are content and full of joy with the faith that are parents have given us, then we begin to crave more and more. So we seek God more often, in various ways, and through other people until we are once again happy with where we are. Eventually, we will indeed desire more depth in our relationship with God so we once again delve into new facets that we previously had left undiscovered. If the candle is left burning for long enough the whole wick will be consumed and on fire, as it is our goal to always be on fire for and going deeper in our friendship with God.

Also¸ the fire that consumes the candle wick causes the hard wax that it is surrounded by to soften and become more pliable. So too do we cause all of the people who surround us and who we touch to be softened to God and His works and voice, by our testimonies and actions of faith. By sharing our faith and light with others, we are softening them up to God’s hands, so He can work with and through them to soften up themselves and others to Him. As long as the wick is still consumed by the fire the wax will remain pliable, but as soon as the flame is gone or the wax strays away from the flame, the wax will again become hardened. Just like the wax, as soon as we walk away from our faith or we feel that it has been taken from us, we harden our hearts to God and all the joys He brings to us.

The wick is not consumed by the fire in a sense that once the fire has used it is gone, it still remains there as a symbol of where the flame has been and how it has gotten to where it is now. We too do not discard our past faith once we have gotten to a new level, we simply build off of our previous faith so we too can see what has lead us to where we are today and what has shaped us to be who we are now. If our old faith is gotten rid of, our new faith will not have a solid base and would most likely crumble like a building without a foundation.

Friends

Friends. How does one define friendship or label someone as their friend? There is no formula one can compute or a standard to measure someone against. One just all of a sudden recognizes someone as a friend, and their bond as being friendship.

Each friendship is different, because each person is unique. What you share with one person cannot be duplicated. You cannot go into a friendship saying I want what I have with this friend to be exactly like what I have with this other friend. I learned that the hard way, I would try to fit myself and another into a mold of what I desired our friendship to be and it never would work out how I envisioned it. Rightly so, because I was looking at the relationship all wrong, I had the goal of what I wanted in mind and tried to fit the nearest friend into that mold. Rather than approaching my friendship without having a goal in mind, and simply allowing God to mold us and allow us to grow together according to His plan. Trying to fit someone into your plan is much more work and does not bear nearly as great of fruit as simply allowing God to place someone in your life according to His plan.

Friends are people in your life, for day, hours, or years that accept you as you are while still challenging you to be better, who are there during the joyous occasions as well as the times of fear and questioning. They are people who you can talk freely with, not worrying about if they will judge or hurt you. Speaking your mind is easier with them, although not always easy, and you know you will always find comfort in their embrace. Admitting your weaknesses, fears and failures to another is a sure sign of friendship. For you are trusting them with all that you are, knowing they will love you anyway. With friends words are not even needed, for simply being together brings peace to your soul and a smile to your face.

Friends are people who may hurt you from time to time, but by recognizing yourself and them as flawed human beings you are able to use these times of hurt to strengthen your love for each other through forgiveness. Friends see and bring out facets of you that you never before saw, helping you to grow into the complete person God created you to be.

Friends are gifts to be treasured. Enjoy their company, but be ready to say good-bye. Love them, and let them love you. Search out their truest selves, and be your truest self with them. Show them God, and they will show you God.

“Spend time with your friend: sweet time --- walking, playing, praying; not so sweet time--- disagreeing, hurting, searching. Friendship embraces the whole spectrum of life itself.” ~From Friendship Therapy

Emily...It's Love

So, I've been wanting to blog/reflect about the past school year as it has recently wrapped up but obviously that hasn't happened yet and now I'm rambling....Anyways, I came across this song by Francesca Battistelli called "Emily (It's Love)" the other day and just had to listen to it simply because of its name.

Well, lo and behold it does a fairly good job of summing up past few months for me...funny how songs can be so spot on about your life sometimes! (About this, check out another post about this by Sara :))

This song is one of hope, that although things may be not going so great right now, in time things will turn around because of God's love for you. Why you? Why does God love you? I've asked myself that plenty of times...see previous post. Well, as Franny says "It's humbling. All of this done for you. It's love..." God's love is so humbling, I believe that is because it is given so freely and we can only hope and pray that one day we will be able to love as unconditionally as God does. Seeing how God loves so perfectly reveals how imperfect even our best attempt at true love is. Ouch. Eh. I think I just scraped my knees falling to the ground. It's humbling, always has been and always will be.

And "If you feel you've had enough. He's never given up." Ever felt discouraged, that there is no way you could accomplish something or overcome an obstacle? Have you given up on God because of this? Doubted His power or strength? Even if you have given up on Him, He has and will NEVER give up on you. Why? IT'S LOVE....ever humbling love.

It's Love. Believe it. Accept it. Live it. Give it.

The End is Near

So, as you know Lent is drawing to a close with roughly a week left to prepare yourself to be filled with the Risen Lord. For some, Lent may be going as well as a season of fasting can go and for others it may seem as though they are still getting into the swing of things. If you are a part of the second half, I encourage you to not lose hope! Although the time of preparation left may be limited, there is still time!! It is never to late to get back up again, renew your Lenten resolutions and draw near to the Father. I came across this prayer/words of encouragement today and thought I'd pass them along!

Don't Quit
When things go wrong
as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging
seems all uphill,
When you're feeling low
and the stress is high,
And you want to smile
but you have to sign,
When worries are getting you down a bit...
By all means pray---and don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
God's hidden gift in the clouds of doubt.
You can never tell how close you are---
It may be near when it seems so far.
So trust in the Lord
when you're hardest hit...
It's when things go wrong
that you must not quit!

Don't give up! Persevere in strength and hope drawn from the Lord, for without Him we can do nothing. Stay strong for the end is near! Peace and Blessings to you.