How silly it now seems that if I spend something as worthless as money, this will be an incentive to change, but if I face all of eternity, that in itself cannot motivate me to see the world through different eyes and approach things differently.
The other day, I bought some new clothes and shoes.
The clothes and shoes that I bought were for exercise. It has been some time since I have bought myself anything new to exercise in. I tend to find as I get more and more busy that I spend less and less time working on exercise and more time sitting at a desk or spending time with my children. Embarrassingly, my clothes and shoes were well in need of replacing and I finally went out and replaced them.
And as a result of replacing these old clothes and shoes with new ones, I decided that I would also work on getting myself into the habit of using these things. After all, I reasoned to myself, it would be a waste of money not to make some use out of all these things that I had just invested in.
And this meant that I started walking more with my family and doing a little bit of exercise with my husband.
And I have been thinking about this today as I have been thinking about how important it is to invest in my spiritual life.
Just as I invested in my clothes and shoes by spending money on new things, so too should I be investing in my spiritual life by spending time and effort on developing myself as a good Christian. And how silly it now seems that if I spend something as worthless as money, this will be an incentive to change, but if I face all of eternity, that in itself cannot motivate me to see the world through different eyes and approach things differently.
And so it seems today that I need to pray for the courage to approach my spiritual “work” with fortitude. For the Holy Spirit is inside my soul, waiting to give me a chance to do better. He is what is NEW inside me, like the clothes and shoes in my cupboard, waiting for me to be able to take Him out and show Him to the world. And instead of my getting myself motivated and in order, instead, I flounder around and waste time and energy on things that are not important to me.
And it occurs to me that just as I need to look at what I have that is new as a sign to motivate me to achieve greater levels of sanctity, so too, must I make this my constant goal. After all, the Saints became Saints because they were determined to achieve sanctity. Saints like Saint Faustina declared that they wished to love God as He had never been loved before. And they gave their entire earthly lives to the fulfilment of such a challenge as that.
And when I compare that with my goals for home and family and work, it seems that I have misplaced my attentions. After all, I have everything to motivate me and no excuses. For the Lord of the Universe is inside my soul and all I need to do is focus on Him…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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