Called to Serve

I mentioned in my last post that a common theme on my heart lately has been the things of this world and the spiritual things that truly matter. There has also been something else that I'm really working on: Being a servant. In my home. I have known for a while that my spiritual gift was serving, but had never paid attention to using that gift at home until recently.

Two weeks ago, I went on a women's retreat, where the theme was "Divine Mercy". I learned a lot from this retreat (more at another time) but one of the stories that stuck with me was this. I believe it was St. Faustina, but I could be wrong. (Told to the best of my memory)

One night, she had gotten in to her pajamas and gotten in her bed, when her roommate said "Sister, would you get me a drink?" She got back up, got dressed again, and put her boots on. There was no kitchen in their house (convent) so she trucked across the muddy grounds to the kitchen and got the sister a drink. But then she realized that she had tracked mud in to the kitchen, so she had to clean it up as well. Then she got back to the bedroom with the drink, and there was Jesus. He told her "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do for me."

This struck me so hard. All I could think of was my husband. Many times we get in bed and he asks me "Will you turn off the lights?... will you go cover the kids up?.. Will you go check to see why the child is crying?" And so often, I say these same things, and many times, he does them for me, and I don't do them for him. After the retreat, my goal was to be more of a servant to my spouse.

However, this weekend, we were so incredibly blessed to go on a marriage retreat. In doing so, we talked about our children and how they apply to our marriage a lot. I realized there are many things I don't do for our kids, because well, I don't want to. I don't like it. I'm lazy. It's boring. It's gross. I hate doing it, etc. etc. But that's NOT what God has called me to do. If my children are not the "Least of these" then who are? Oh man, I have so much work to do! My new prayer is "Lord, please remind me to be a servant to others, so in doing so I will serve you."

And amazingly enough, as I was working on this, this video came across my feed. Sums it up perfectly.

Material versus Spiritual

I feel strongly that sometimes, God puts a theme or topic on your heart, or in your mind. Something for you to chew on, soak up, and think about a lot, and often for you to work on. The common theme on my mind and heart lately has been the material and earthly things of this world versus the spiritual things. What do I mean?

On Sunday mornings, sitting at church, receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, my mind is on Him. I want nothing more than to walk out of that building remembering that He is in me, and that everything I do should bring glory to Him. That anything else doesn't matter. 

Then Monday rolls around. My kids are a hot mess of not wanting to do school. So I'm trying to find a new way to make the science lesson come alive, and therefore skipping religion. I need a new jacket so being the thrifty person I am, I check all these sites for the best deal. My friends are posting all of these great links on Facebook that I just have to read. Especially because many of them are spiritual things, I'm sure they'll help me improve my spiritual walk. But the truth is, these are all distractions. The posts I read, I'll usually forget within minutes of reading them. The jacket, I don't really need. And when is science more important than teaching my children the faith? These are all things that are taking me away from Our Lord. I am so busy with all of these things, I can't take the time to spend 10 minutes to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet or read the readings for the day. 

I've pulled up about 7 tabs of things I want to read from Facebook, and interestingly enough, one was about yesterday's readings. The first one really struck home with me:

Romans 14:7-12 Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.For if we live, we live for the Lord,and if we die, we die for the Lord;so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.For this is why Christ died and came to life,that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.Why then do you judge your brother or sister?Or you, why do you look down on your brother or sister?For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;for it is written:As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.

I found it interesting that today's reading was talking about He is Lord and every tongue shall praise Him. That our soul purpose is to live for the Lord. I realized, it's not just my tongue that should praise Him, it's my actions, how I use my time. How I respond to things. 

We have some changes in the coming year. It's hard to not worry about these changes. What will happen, how will it work out, where will we end up? But, none of that matters if I'm focused on the here and now. The here and now, spiritual side of things says to pray about it and tell Our Lord "Jesus, I trust in you!" 

When I'm talking about the material and earthly side of things, it is in so many areas. Being focused on clothes, how I look, what I say, where I go, what I do, what I think of myself, the people I spend time with, etc. It's so easy to be pulled in to these things that take so much focus in our world. It's like the pinterest ladies who always have these great crafts or foods made. I look at them and want to think "Oh, that's awesome! I should do that!" and then I get so lost in the trying to do all these things, that I've lost my spiritual focus. Or I want to have everything put together, like some of these homeschool bloggers do, and that doesn't matter. What matters is that my kids are learning. Whether it's in books, or through experiences, etc. (Side note, I'm personally REALLY struggling with homeschooling right now!) 

I think back to so many of the Saints. Some were very poor, and yet, they found all their joy in the Lord, and suffered so many things to be united to His suffering. They never cared about Facebook or their clothes, the politics of this or that, the things that did not matter. They were not focused on the material, earthly possessions, but on the Lord. 

Another great example is all of these wonderful blog posts I'd love to read, because I'm sure they'll have great information or encouragement.... But what's really the point? Is it going to help me grow in my spiritual life? Will I remember it 10 minutes from now? Or is it just my way to connect with someone?  oh the irony that I'm writing a similar blog post. Truth is, it's so I can look back on this and be reminded of it more.

The reason I feel the Lord has brought this phrase to my heart lately is because I have been missing out on the real spiritual. The sitting down with my children and reading a good book together, studying a Saint together. Spending time in prayer and in my Bible, or reading a book that will help me grow. I have really made some changes in my life lately because I was doing so much "for the Lord" that I was neglecting my first priority and gift from Him, my family. I was stuck in the earthly doing that I was neglecting the spiritual loving I should be doing. I'm so busy with the planning, I'm not enjoying, like the photographer behind the camera, so busy clicking the photo he isn't enjoying the moment he's in. 

All in all, what I'm trying to say is that it's a real and difficult struggle. I have the desire to focus on the Lord and seek the spiritual things, and to not get drawn in to these things, but then I am so quickly drawn to them and forget about the Lord. It's like a diet. You know you shouldn't have that chocolate, but then, in a moment of weakness, when you aren't thinking about not eating it, you eat it. Not that they are evil or a sin, but they are distracting from God. As my husband so kindly pointed out "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Prayers is so important in overcoming the material temptations of this world. 

This is not to say the things of this world are not important, but that it's important to keep the Lord the priority.