Where do you start?

When your house is a mess, is there a place you can always begin that will jump start you into action? Is there a place where you can attend to the task in front of you and then be able to move on to tackle the rest of the mess? This is the only way I can move forward sometimes, otherwise I get completely overwhelmed by the work in front of me.

This task for me is laundry. It is really hard for me to begin cleaning the rest of the house when the laundry is out of control (unfortunately this happens a LOT at our house). For some it's the kitchen. Others start in the bathroom. I can toss all the laundry in an unsorted disaster into another room and ignore it for awhile while "pretending" to straighten up and clean, but my heart is not really into it. I have an underlying anxiety about the unseen piles of clothes waiting to be sorted, washed, dried, folded, and finally put away. The funny thing (or maybe not so funny) is that staying caught up with laundry is not one of my strong suits. Go figure. I think God lets us struggle with precisely that which will give us the most benefit.

I was thinking about this yesterday and today as I have been tackling Mt. Washmore in pursuit of getting to the other side and starting to really clean our home. And as with just about everything that happens in my life, I began to think about this in terms of an allegory to the spiritual life. Where do I start spiritually when my life is a mess? What do I have to tackle first in order to get to the rest of the mess?

The first thing I always have to do before I can receive the Truth of God's Love for me, is to lay down my pride and quit seeking the affections and approval of other people. There, I said it. I am overly concerned with what people think of me, and it is paralyzing. God has healed this in my heart before, and He continues to do so when I begin to forget or begin to let my desire for the affections of others take over my thoughts and actions.

This is what was on my heart when I picked up Seven Deadly Sins Seven Lively Virtues by Fr. Robert Barron, through a Lighthouse Catholic Media display at the local Newman Center. I was inspired to get this CD in part due to the excellent series Mary has been doing at her blog The Beautiful Gate on the seven deadly sins. God is good! Here is what Fr. Barron had to say just at the beginning of this talk:

"We have been loved into existence by God... God doesn't need us.... God can't
be self-interested...Whatever exists, including you, is coming forth right now
as the result of a sheerly generous act, and that's where your worth comes
from."

This and everything else on the CD is exactly what God wants to tell me today. My worth comes from Him and not from anyone else. This is where I begin. I begin from Him. And so do you. So where will you go this week with that knowledge?

If you would like to learn more about what Fr. Barron has to say about the 7 Deadly Sins and the opposing 7 Lively Virtues, you can purchase the CD from Lighthouse Catholic Media. Or go check out a four part series of sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins and opposing antedotes at Word on Fire:

Fr. Barron's Sermon 7: on Pride / Humility

Fr. Barron's Sermon 8: on Envy / Admiration and Anger / Forgiveness

Fr. Barron's Sermon 9: on Sloth / Zeal for the Mission and Avarice / Generosity

Fr. Barron's Sermon 10: on Gluttony / Asceticism and Lust / Profound Respect for the Other