As I was replying to a comment left on an earlier post this morning, it
struck me how truly blessed I am at this point in my life. Lately I've spent a
lot of time complaining about loneliness and friend problems and lack of
community at home, but when I really take the time to reflect on my life,
I see that I have nothing to complain about. I have a roof over my head (which
I don’t have to pay for). I have clothes to eat (I was going to correct this
error, but I figured you’d all enjoy a good laugh. Hahaha). Yes, clothes to eat
;) Anyway…I have clothes to wear and food to eat. I have friends and family who
love me. I have a running car and a job that starts in January. But most
importantly, I have a relationship with Jesus, and I have the opportunity to work
on it each and every day. My open schedule allows me to attend mass each day,
spend time in prayer, read good books (like True Devotion to Mary!), and watch
episode upon episode of the Catholicism series. There are so many people I know
who would love to have the amount of free time I have. All of this reminds me
of an experience I had this summer.
From the end of May to the end of June, the Newman center at U of I
turns into a training center for FOCUS. Hundreds of
missionaries gather in the dorm to spend five weeks learning how to evangelize
on college campuses. A plethora of priests, brothers, and sisters join the
scene at various times throughout the weeks to offer spiritual direction or
teach a class. Anyway, many of the missionaries have started families that they
don’t want to be away from for more than a month, so Newman becomes the
temporary home for loads of babies and toddlers! And since young children don’t
make the best class companions, FOCUS hires babysitters for the families. I was
lucky enough to be recommended by one of my missionary friends to be a sitter,
and I couldn’t have been happier. For five or six weeks, I spent 14ish hours of
my day bouncing from one family to the next every few hours while the parents
attended class (or in some cases, taught
a class). I became pretty good friends with all the parents, which may have
been helped by the fact that we were all around the same age! Unlike some of
the sitters who babysat for the same family all day every day, I was just an
on-call watcher of babies who could be utilized by anyone. This meant that I
got to spend time with ALL the beautiful kids at one point or another!! It was
fantastic J. Okay,
by now you’re probably wondering what the point of this whole post is. Well,
get ready ‘cause here it comes.
During the middle of training, I was introduced to a mom with two
youngins under 2. Her husband was one of the missionaries in charge of
everything so he was gone pretty much allllll day. She hadn’t brought her own
babysitter with her, and for a reason I can’t remember now, she hadn’t called
upon any of us on the list for a little help every now and again. By the time I
met her, she really needed a break. As you can imagine, it’s not easy
entertaining little ones all the livelong day when you’re living in a college
dorm room…Anyway, we clicked pretty much right away, and I started stopping by
every day just to see if she needed an extra pair of hands. She was always so
grateful, and at one point she told me that she really appreciated all of the
help because she hadn’t been able to make it to a chapel to pray since her
first daughter was born…two years ago! It began to dawn on me how much
sacrifice it takes to be a mom. There’s no such thing as a “sick day” for stay
at home moms—rain or shine, the kids need you. And as much as you love your
kids, it’s gotta be lonely just having the company of a baby or toddler during
the day until your husband gets home. I realized then how much I was taking my
situation for granted; as a young, single, and fairly unemployed woman, I had
no (good) excuse for why I wasn’t devoting more time to my relationship with
Jesus. I had nothing taking time away from me or really requiring my attention.
While I’d like to think that my lack of effort was due to the fact that I just
wasn’t really reflecting on what I was (or wasn’t) doing, it’s more likely that
I was just being lazy, ungrateful, or unaware of the blessings God was giving
me.
I’ve been thinking about that encounter a lot lately, probably due to
the fact that I read so many amazing mom blogs. And once again, I see how good
God is and how much He longs for us. He gives us exactly what we need, and for
me, at this point in my life, it’s time. Time for building my relationship with
Him and His Mother. Time for figuring out who I really am and what is important
in my life. Time for counting my blessings.
So this week I’ve decided to offer up all my masses for all the moms I
know. I only had a very small taste of the sacrifices you make each day for
your children, but if your situation is anything like that of the women I met
this summer, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the extra prayers J And if any of you live in Illinois and ever need a
babysitter, you know where to find me ;)
2 comments:
Gosh this made me tear up. I was a working mom before and I stay home now...but the consistent theme is that in the past five years I've had minimal time to focus on my faith. I know in this season that God wants me to focus on my vocation, but after going to weekday mass at college and having weekly adoration and confession at my disposal, it's SO hard to know that I've only made it to reconciliation ONCE in the past year. And once the year before that. Babysitters cost money, and I certainly can't focus during Sunday mass as a family when worrying how my little ones are making noise and distracting others. In fact, after the priest at our new church thanked me one day for taking my screaming son out during the homily because it was distracting him, I wondered if we needed to find a church with a nursery or cry room. I really want to do my best to raise little saints, but it's so tough sometimes! So thank you from me for helping that mom...thank you for recognizing the sacrifice that the rest of our society tells us we shouldn't make because we need to be selfish. It's so validating to hear that and to know that someone out there is praying! If/when you become a mother one day, I know you will be such a beautiful example of our Holy Mother's love!
Thank you, Megan, for all your kind words. And thank you for continuing to do your best to raise little saints! We definitely need more of that. There was a group of women talking to our priest after mass today, and he was telling us about how many parents he's had come up to him and say things like "well I just couldn't get the kids out of bed this morning so we left them at home" or "Sunday is the only day we get to sleep in so we missed mass last week." So just the fact that you're taking the kiddos to mass is inspiring to me, especially when they're young and "distracting." (I'll admit to being distracted by all the little ones, but that's just because I can't help staring at their adorable faces!) Hopefully you haven't had to deal with any glares from other parishioners during baby/toddler meltdowns...it's amazing how judgmental our fellow Catholics can be...it's like they've never been around kids before!
I'm sure God is smiling down on you and your efforts :)
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