Sunday, April 15, 2018

The Daily Struggle

"You sure have your hands full!"
"You must be very busy!"
"How do you do it?!"
"Are they ALL yours?!"

Being a family with 4 young children I get these remarks and questions more and more. I don't mind at all, and there's some truth in those statements! My daily tasks are growing, our house and time is full, and that's good! Yet, it is also true that within those wonderful, full, busy days there is struggle. Struggle to do my job well, to love my kids well, and to teach my kids to do likewise. Struggle to give up my desires and wishes and welcome Gods plan for my life. Struggle to put others before myself.

So herein lies the real question: Is struggle bad? NO! No, no, no! Without struggle and sacrifice, good cannot be accomplished. Look at the cross...Jesus took on suffering and sacrifice and even death to bring about life. He knew it was worth every bit of struggle...WE were worth His sacrifice. He did it out of love for us.

And so we are to do the same. Welcome the struggles. Don't take the easy road, laden with comfort and pleasures. Those things pass. Ask God for the strength to walk His path so we that may know Him better and become like Him, all for His glory.

For it is on this journey where growth takes place. Growth isn't easy, but it is through our daily struggles and sacrifices that virtue is to be cultivated. Just as with a garden, the seeds will not grow into a fruitful plant in a moment, but over the course of time, and with much care and attention given to it's growth. So it is with our lives: Patience, love, endurance, courage, temperance, humility...these virtues aren't produced over night. They take much time, struggle, and sacrifice to become a part of our lives. Yet, we are given much opportunity to practice and develop these virtues, and the opportunities are usually within our daily struggles and tasks! Simple opportunities like when your plans get changed unexpectedly for the worse and not complaining about it, or giving someone the last piece of chocolate you'd been thinking about all day, or choosing to do a kind deed to someone who's been irritating you. There are endless opportunities!

We must not give up but continue on and doing so all for love of Jesus, because where there is love, the burden becomes light, the task easy.

"Our lives for the most part are made up of little things, and by these our character is to be tested...little duties carefully discharged; little temptations earnestly resisted with the strength God supplies; little sins crucified; these all together help to form that character which is to be described not as popular or glamorous, but as moral and noble."
~ Fulton J. Sheen

 Jesus, help me to bear patiently the trials of my daily life. Teach me to make use of the trials, the sufferings, the humiliations, that come my way, to learn to know myself better and to love God more. Amen.