Fruit of praying St. Thomas' Prayer for Ordering a Life Wisely

So, I had this wonderful grace today. As I looked around seeing all that needs to be done, which usually overwhelms me, I realized something. Paradoxically, I think it's the fruit of praying St. Thomas Aquinas' prayer for ordering a life wisely. It's a paradox because my life feels very far from ordered right now. But God revealed to me that He loves me and is pouring out His grace on all of us right in the middle, and really through our messy life (in a physical and spiritual sense). When I looked around, suddenly all of this:

-legos built and unbuilt (not fun to step on)
-A pile of toy nerf guns confiscated yesterday on which I stubbed my toe really bad in the dark this morning (ouch!)
-dust (lots and lots of it)
-a hot wheels race car set at the bottom of the stairs (why there?)
-train set somewhere, or so I've heard
-dirty kleenex (I know! gross, it's not me)
-food on the floor (we don't have a dog, working on Chris in this matter)
-dirty (and also clean, unfolded) laundry taking over (literally overflowing)
-piles of papers with printed out prayers/articles I like
-prayer books
-piles of kids' school projects, homework, forms that need to be filled out
-childrens' books on the nightstands, on the floors, on the beds, on the counters, on the stairs (not fun to slip on), on the kitchen counters
-my books in all the same places as the childrens' books
-unsent Christmas cards that I didn't have an address for (I give up on this one)
-unsent school pictures (working on that one too!)
-dirty dishes
-coats, blankets, socks, shoes, mittens, etc...
-Christmas tree still up
-Nativity sets still out
-Superhero birthday decorations still hanging up
-Pink flower birthday decorations still hanging up
-wonderful school books laying around haphazardly in the living room that when used teach God's beauty in all parts of our life and studies
-a violin with music scattered around
-a very dusty piano that needs tuning
-unmade beds
-and much much more believe it or not

made me realize something beautiful. My messy life, and that of my family, is the evidence that there are 7 beautiful souls living in this house, learning to love God and each other, and that despite the fact that it feels and looks so "disordered", it is in fact ordered. Ordered to the love of God, the love He has for each one of us, and the love we have for Him.

Thank You Jesus! Amen.

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

And the Winner Is....

From this week's laundry fold-a-thon:

Most T-shirts: Luke (5 yr old)

... don't ask

Least T-shirts: Joseph (7 yr old)
Most towels: Sophia (2 yr old)

...because, well, even though the towels aren't technically hers we all know she has had the inclination of late to go remove all the towels from the hall bathroom and throw them in front of the door so that her brothers and sister will make sure to be able to dry off from playing outside in the pool (it's the blow up variety) and slip-n-slide.

Most swimsuits: Sophia (2 yr old)
Most dresses: Anna (9 yr old)

...because, well, she likes to wear nice dresses (that really are more for winter-wear) outside to play water guns with her brother. And after she dries off the towel her kind little sister leaves her, she puts on another dress with long sleeves to wear outside in the almost summer heat and shoot water guns with her brother. Plus she has the dresses she wore to Church in the pile as well.

Least of everything: Chris (43, oops 42 yr old as he just reminded me)

...because, well, he wears things multiple times (which he announces several times a week) and does not change his clothes multiple times a day.

Most wrinkled clothes: me (you know how old I am)

...this one is mine because it is my fault that all the clothes are wrinkled since they have been sitting in laundry baskets waiting to be folded for quite some time ;)


And that's all for today!


Update: oops forgot to say most burp cloths: Michael (6 week old) :)

Laundry Grace

Well, one good thing about being really behind on laundry is that I actually had to sit down for an extended period of time to fold. Taking this opportunity to watch EWTN, I caught an episode of Mother Angelica Live Classics. The episode this morning was about the healing that takes place from the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Paraphrasing her, the Father welcomes us home as the prodigal son, Jesus carries us on His shoulders to Our Father as the Good Shepherd and He places us back into the fold. How simple and yet so profound.

Mother Angelica also said, paraphrasing again, in good times, we enjoy our faith, in bad times, we exercise our faith. During this time of Lent, let us exercise our faith when faced with temptation in a more intentional way as we prepare to enjoy our faith in the celebration of His resurrection!

Welcome to my blog. I hope that it is a source of grace, humor and inspiration mixed in with the messiness of everyday life. Thanks for visiting!