Sometimes You Just Need Some Perspective...

Here's part of an email from a dear friend...I wrote to her about some of my struggles as of late, and this really helped validate my feelings as well as use them for a greater purpose:

Just remember, these are very real things and it's ok to feel the way you, but you just have to invite God into it. Like for example, you said you feel like you do the same things day in and day out... YOU DO! And although it is natural to think it's lame, it's NOT. So, you need to invite God into it- thank Him for the things you have to do everyday, the things that seem small or insignificant or worthless. Praise Him for the fact that you can't see their value but He gives them to you anyway. It is hard to thank God in those moments, but if you do it life becomes more joyful. Also, tell Him that you hate feeling this way but there is nothing you can do about it- you are too weak to change it, but He is not. It's only when you admit that you are not strong enough to "do what you are supposed to" that you make room for Him to be in it. Praise God for the fact that you fail the expectation of people around you- He did that too, you know ;). Sometimes we want to say, well it doesn't matter, they are just other people, I don't need to be affected by them. But, really, that's a lie. We are affected by other people. It hurts when they look at us like we are failures or like we are crazy- so the only thing to do is say thank you Lord for letting me fail their expectations. It seems crazy (this is the Spirituality of Weakness by the way) but it really helps us to live more joyfully and more WITH God.

 

Being a mother is the hardest thing you will ever do (for a number of reason, which you know) and it is the most attacked thing in our culture, even if it is attacked subtly. It's the curse (Gen 3:16). The pangs of childbirth aren't just physical. It's much more spiritual. It's the pain a mother faces when someone doesn't want her to have the child. It the pain when a woman is so broken she herself doesn't want a child. It's the pain a mother feels when no one appreciates the gift of motherhood or recognizes that Vocation comes first. It's the pain of a mother who wants to conceive but can't. It's the pain of a mother who sacrifices for her child and is criticized for it. But Christ endured that very pain on the cross for us as he gave birth to the Church. And Mary endured that pain as she received the cross in her heart. They have redeemed it for us, all we have to do is admit we are not strong enough to bear it, and they will for us.

 

I'll let you pity yourself for a bit and then I help you praise God for all these failures you feel. Then I'll help you find joy in the little things! Which, by the way, is the best way to combat these depressed feelings and anxieties- do something child like. Color a picture. Jump on a bed. Play in the snow. Make a mess of paint. 

 

 

Thanks be to God for the gift of friendship and the gift of vocation!