Painful situations can bring us together

Isn’t it ironic how in a blink of an eye our whole life can change? We often have a hard time realizing how lucky and blessed we are when everything in our lives is running smoothly. In one second our life can hang by a thread, in a moment our life can come to an end but we go about our lives refusing to think about it. It is a subject we do not want to address. We hardly ever stop to think about the frailty of our lives and about how much we need God. We end up wasting time in meaningless things and vain pursuits precious time that could have been spent deepening our relationship with God, mending broken relationships, improving ourselves, loving more, sharing more, finding more reasons to be happy and fewer reasons to be sad.

            We do not like to think about these things, but perhaps we should because then we could be somewhat more prepared when hard times come. Oftentimes, it is when we go through hardships that we find out what we are made of. It is then that we are given an opportunity to draw on the grace God has given us, an opportunity to exercise our strength, wisdom, love, patience, kindness and faith. It is in distressing times that we really come to experience the protection and mercy of God. If we can be ready for these tough times, through prayer, then a tragedy, a catastrophe or a great tribulation can be the source of spiritual growth and some of the biggest blessings in our lives.

            Sometimes, no matter how much we have prayed and how ready we think we are to face anything, when a terrible situation comes our way, we feel like St. Augustine when he wrote in his Confessions that he was “appalled at a world that could go on as though our catastrophe had not happened.” We feel drained, we feel frozen, and only hope remains.

            Many valuable lessons can be learned about hope, faith, endurance and strength. One of the greatest lessons is that the driving force behind all of these qualities is love. God has given us human beings an amazing capacity to survive the most heartbreaking moments. The great love of God that unites and that pours out from family members, friends and even strangers becomes the solid foundation that sustains us when we most need it, that great love that many times gets forgotten in the rush of everyday life.

            There are many amazing stories about people who have survived adversity and found it has not only changed their lives but touched the lives of many others as well. These are people who have survived by holding on to hope. Sometimes hope is all we need in order to make it through one more day. And one more day is all we need in order to make it through the rest of our lives¾because each new day brings renewed hope and a renewed understanding that God has given us the strength to endure difficult times and the courage to go on.

            Hope gives us strength when adversity pushes us to the limit. In adversity, hope gives us the ability to open our eyes and see what is really of value in life. Many people’s lives change forever because in hope they find meaning to their suffering. Great difficulties can pull people together, and many times great difficulties can produce forgiveness. Difficult times and problems are part of life, but it is how we choose to see these moments and how we choose to act in these times that will determine if they are in vain or not.

Wisdom to contemplate:

 “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

“He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope (that) he will also rescue us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:10)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Let's be little !

Can we go back in time?

Isn’t it a mystery how “little ones” live in a mix between reality and fantasy; never truly sure of what is real? They dream so intensely that when they wake up, they bounce around in joy, trying to replay every detail of their dream. They are convinced that, in fact, they lived through whatever experience they had. These “little ones” are positive that the daydream, vision, illusion or mirage actually happened. I can’t help but wonder: 

• Are these experiences real? 
• Are “little ones” somehow able to actually go to these magical places? 
• Do their imaginary friends really exist? 
• Do angels really come and play with them? 
• Can they see things we don’t? 
• Who are we to say no?

After all, it has been so long since we ourselves were “little ones” that maybe our perceptions have changed. We are so certain of what the limits are that we do not allow room for the unexplained. Our minds quickly disregard our experiences as a dream due to something we ate, or as something for our psychiatrist to explain as coming – because of too much stress.

Our awareness of the extraordinary often fades away as we get older. Maybe because it is then that we start learning about our limits, about what is possible and what is impossible. For the “little ones,” there are no limits to what is possible, only undiscovered frontiers to which they are determined to go. And it is this determination that makes all the difference.

So let’s think for a moment: 

What if “little ones” have a way of entering different “dimensions”? 
What if they are able to experience a multitude of worlds, 
being here and there as they please? 
We should not be afraid of this possibility. After all, are“little ones” fully here yet?

What I mean is that “little ones” are like heavenly beings for whom nothing is impossible. They seem to fluctuate between heaven and earth maybe because when we are little, we have an easier time keeping a strong connection to the heavenly realm and to the unknown dimensions of God’s created universe.

I deeply believe that we should not tuck away the “little one” in us. Why do we have to stop being “little” on the inside? As we grow up, our body changes and ages, we gain knowledge, we become wiser (hopefully!). But the fact that our body and intellect can and will grow does not mean that we must sacrifice the “little one” that we once were. We are all “little ones” deep inside. The problem is that some of us hide that part of us in a deep dark corner and suppress it. Some of us have almost forgotten how to get in touch with that part of ourselves. But we all have been “little” before, so if we allow ourselves to regain contact with the “little one” we once were, we will be free to fully enjoy all the things God intends us to enjoy and to experience all that He has in store for us.

You must be wondering what I mean by “little.” Well, what I mean by “little” is the person, big or small, who:

·   Is keeping alive that side of himself/herself that knows how to trust and love completely…both the people in their lives and God our Father.

·  Does not know ego and does not know how to fake emotions¾what you see is what you get!

·   Is always willing to learn more.

·  Finds joy in simple moments.

·  Is not afraid to love.

·  Is eternally seeking and searching for happiness.

· Is not limited by anything and is not afraid to dream.

If we give value to that side of us, we will have much richer experiences, and we will be able to stay more easily connected to the heavenly realm. We surely will be connected to God our Father by always believing, hoping, enjoying, trusting and allowing ourselves to have a perfect balance between our mind, our body, our heart and our soul a good balance between our humanity and our spirituality. 

When we maintain the connection to our heavenly Father, we can enrich our lives and those of others by shining on them the graces that we receive, sharing the love and the peace that light up our lives. Let’s allow our “littleness” to surface and take over our hearts!

Wisdom to contemplate:

 “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” (Mark 10:14-15)

“Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” (Luke 18:17)

Cruel Kids - Have you been bullied?

Cruel Kids?

Have you been bullied?  Many kids have.  Kids can be cruel sometimes, bruising their peers in the most profound way, shattering their self-confidence, making them feel miserable, utterly disappointed and troubled. Isn’t it ironic, that it is only after growing up a bit that we start becoming aware of our looks? I don’t think many parents realize the importance of teaching their children to be kind. And I don’t think many parents realize how much a child can suffer in school. In some people’s opinion, children don’t have problems, only adults. But this is not true. Everything is proportional to the person experiencing it. For little children, a problem that can seem trivial to an adult can deeply hurt their feelings and leave them heartbroken.  

Not everybody is nice in the world, but that that does not mean everybody is mean. Not everybody is nice in the world, but that is no reason to join them. There will always be mean people, jealous people, angry people, bitter people and envious people in our lives. But there will always be good, kind, friendly, compassionate, caring people, too. So, we must open our eyes and search for the people who are worth our while, instead of getting disappointed thinking that people are all bad. By giving a chance to others, we are really giving a chance to ourselves.

It is important to make sure we do not become infected by bitterness or become mean ourselves. We must make an effort to always be excellent, no matter how hard things get. When someone says something to us, we have to know it is not a fact, but just a disputable opinion that person has about us. We should not let it bother us. An opinion is just a guess, a supposition, a generalization somebody makes about us. It is harmless unless we allow it to become important, since it will not be true unless we make it true.

• Why give people or words an importance that they do not deserve?
• Why do we insist on being offended by what other people say?
• Who cares what someone else calls me if I know who I am for real? 
• Why should it be such a tragedy to be called a name? Who cares? 
• Why do we insist on giving so much importance to other people’s opinions of us? 

  

We cannot change certain people, but we can ignore them. We cannot change certain people, but we can always change ourselves. Let’s therefore focus on ourselves that we may be stronger and turn into better people, so that we can keep a good equilibrium in this world bringing to it goodness and love. Let’s make a point out of becoming more confident. To be sure of ourselves is one of the most valuable lessons we will ever learn, and it is never too late. Let’s make it our goal to find reasons to be happy instead of reasons to be offended. Let’s make it our life’s task to learn to be less mean. After all, after a while the mean people may get tired of being mean, and after a while being nice and kind becomes contagious.

We all have encountered at some point in time someone trying to hurt us. Let’s be more confident inside from now on, remembering that anything anybody says about us is just their opinion. 

Wisdom to contemplate:

“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

Continue your kindness toward your friends, your just defense of the honest heart. Do not let the foot of the proud overtake me, nor the hand of the wicked disturb me.” (Psalm 36:11-12)