In last week’s blog, I talked about growing in good works through prayer, fasting and service and how they unite us to Christ. These are the three tools we have in our spiritual toolbox to resist sin and follow the path of true love. I find Lent is a perfect time to examine my choices and search the desert within me to evaluate my motivations. I can learn, with God’s grace, where I am flirting with darkness and then make a conscious decision to snuggle up with my Creator instead of turning to the fleeting relief the world provides. Prayer helps me see my life as God sees it and assures me I am loved.
I hope this post finds you settling into your word of the year as well as having a plan mapped out to get to know your Saint buddy. My prayer time this week included a plea for guidance on how to best get to know mine, St. Joseph. The next day, I was listening to the Godsplaining podcast and low and behold, they were discussing the Year of St. Joseph. This conversation gave me a good starting point for my plan. I love how God works! Do you have a plan to nourish your mind this year? Another practice I wanted to share that supports my growth is identifying twelve books that will challenge my thinking. Getting through this stack feels good when I complete in December.
Have you ever heard the expression ready, fire, aim? It seems to me that a lot of our culture operates this way taking immediate action and reacting to something before thinking it through. If we are not careful and intentional, this behavior can transcend our life, including our spiritual life.
Last year’s word of the year for me was Be. Upon reflection, Be was the perfect word that fueled my spiritual growth and cultivated my peace of mind. Flash back to last February. In my journey to understand love, the way our Creator intended, I stepped away from a 35-year career to support my husband through his lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Little did I know, we would be contending with COVID the following month to add complexity to his immune compromised state as well as facing a grueling year of multiple complications from the transplant. Hiring in my field of philanthropy slowed down as well and positions of interest were and continue to be on hold. Since much of my time prior to the transplant and COVID was focused on working, it was hard to be still and just Be. Being is an uncomfortable space to find yourself in after years of doing. Through faith and trust, I learned what it meant to Be and was blessed with many gifts through this surrender. By being still last year, I was able to see and understand God’s grace and His goodness. I started writing about this goodness which I hope inspires you in your journey. Have you taken some time to reflect on how God has worked in your life this past year and written a few key moments in your spiritual journey and identified your hopes for the new year?
The start of a new year has always provided me with hope, a chance for new beginnings, a fresh start, and a time to recalibrate. It is a time when I want to remember to accept what comes my way with joy and peace as well as practice supportive habits. Attending to my spirit provides a crucial foundation for the way I want to live. The new year touchpoint puts a symbolic distance between us and the year we have had. This past year which has taken our ordered lives and brought chaos, heartbreak, and uncertainty. We have all experienced some level of disruption including loss of freedom, of health, of loved ones and our ideas of how things ought to be. I think you will join me in saying it was a year of disorder. But with disorder comes reorder. God is always calling us forward to recalibrate and refocus our vision. I find it more than a little ironic that 20/20 is perfect vision.
Dear Jesus, I have done so little for you in the past year. I do not know what you have in store for me for this year, yet I accept it with its joys, sacrifices, sorrow, pain, and even death—joyfully—for it is your choice. You will help me to do my part and cooperate with your grace, refrain from my habitual sins, overcome my faults and defects. O Jesus, you know that without you I am nothing. Be with me! Allow me to spend this coming year in your love and service, without counting the cost.
The beautiful nativity gifted to us for Christmas by my sister and brother in law!
Do you need more time like I do to bask in the spirit and joy of Christmas? To invite Christ to be your center and North star? After the year we have had, I really want this gift of goodness to continue, especially to influence the new year. Goodness is about tapping into Christ born in us. It is created by God’s grace and my response to it. When I respond with tears of gratitude for His love and mercy, that is goodness. He is always inviting us forward and I can accept that invitation or not. When I focus on the things that feed my soul, I can see the pathway to holiness a little clearer each year and be Smitten with Goodness.
I believe what we hold in our heart is a microcosm of what we bring into the world. During this fourth Sunday of Advent, we prayerfully light the Angel’s Candle or the Candle of Love in the Catholic tradition. This symbolizes the Christmas message of the angels “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.” You can find the full message here.
Happy Third Sunday of Advent. Today is Gaudete Sunday which means rejoice! Besides lighting the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath, we celebrate that our hopeful anticipation for the coming of Christ at Christmas is almost over. This beautiful liturgical color signifies joy.
Smitten With Goodness 