Waiting for Patience

I've been pretty under the weather since last Wednesday ... everyone around here's been coming down with this terrible cold, and I had it too.  Spent some time in bed, lots actually, tons of soup, lots of temperature taking, and some good rounds with my old neti-pot, one of the strangest things ever, but boy does it work!  I highly recommend! Anyway, the readings at Daily Mass lately have been about Jonah - Father's been calling him a bit of a drama queen, well, King really.  He is being called to preach to the people of Nineveh (modern day Iraq).  They should repent, turn from their evil ways, and follow the God of all gods.  However, he's a little - well, shall we say - perturbed at God for this.  He refuses to do it and gets on a boat with some other guys, ends up in a terrible storm, and they throw him over (well, he went willingly actually).  He's then in the belly of the whale, and eventually goes into Nineveh like he was asked in the first pla...

I've always wanted to be a youth minister, and I knew that the job required a lot of time, work, and ability.  I saw in my own youth minister (AP) that it was draining on his family, caused him even to adopt a young woman in our youth group when she had absolutely nowhere else to go.  Her mother didn't really want her and her grandmother decided (1 year after this girl got out of the hospital for an eating disorder) that she was going to get back together with her husband who sexually abused her granddaughter.  So, yeah - drastically changed his life and the life of his wife and two daughters (one who they adopted from an abusive parent situations 10 years earlier). Even knowing all that, and I'm a little naive, but not really - I didn't think it was going to be this hard! Or that there would be so many times when I really didn't know what to do.  Even more than that - knew what should be done, but couldn't do it because 'we're the Church and we can...

"God can live without you ... He just doesn't want to" (based on Col. 1:22) -Mark Hart, aka The Bible Geek If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ~ Jeremiah 29:13 "My morning prayer summed up: 'O god, Give me the strength to not tell people what I really think of them today. Amen.' And we're off!" -Lino Rulli "The parable of the Good Samaritan is not only about being kind to strangers but about accepting love from those you have written off." -Fr. James Martin, SJ "The devil loves complacency." -Mark Hart

Tonight I spent a lot of time in the car and a lot of time laughing.  I went to another parish in our area to hear one of my favorite authors speak.  Fr. James Martin is hilarious! And he's so spiritually profound too.  Tonight he was talking on his new book and promoting it, which is about Heavenly laughter.  He told the greatest jokes, we were all rolling with laughter. One of the things he talks about is that laughter is not only allowed in the spiritual life, but it should be required for it!  We are all being called to laugh more, appropriately of course.  We should laugh at ourselves, laugh at the things God brings us, and enjoy laughter with others. They say that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. So, I do this all the time.  Like now, I've got great plans in mind for me and AGA ... marriage, babies, and a long life together.  However, I'm not sure that's the Lord's plan - or really even what I want.  I am also v...

I have a long list of people who are frustrated with me - well, as I can see it from my end - at work.  I need thicker skin, I need to be able to stand firm in my opinion, know the reasons why, and be unwilling to change for any little thing.  But, the problem is, that sounds horrible ... very 'not humble' and pretty much like a B.  Although, I just had this revelation ... those people who are annoyed with me (and I in turn annoyed with them - or at least I would love to just ignore them and forget they exist), the thing is - they are like that.  They have the way they want to do things, they way things HAVE to be done, and then they do them that way and expect everyone else to follow suit. They are very firm in their decisions, never wavering, never compromising; and what does it get them?  People who are upset with them, but the thing is - they don't care, not at all.  They would rather have their way then have people like them.  Here's where ...

Well, what a terrible day it was ... except for a few shining moments. First thing you need to know about me is that I'm a youth minister for middle and high school students in a Catholic Church.  Second is this is mostly a thankless job that is usually crowned with a staff/parish who LOVES youth but does small things that push the youth out - like kick us out of our room regularly! So today started at HRMS for 'See You At The Pole' - the national day when public school students gather at their flag pole and pray for their school.  It was so nice to see the middle school teens praying out loud in front of their school in front of their peers.  One of the families invited me to come out and it was so nice to see them. Then, it all went downhill - an architect meeting (that I said exactly 7 words at - 60 minutes, wasted).  Was supposed to meet with my DRE about something and she didn't have time.  Then I went to the gym, which was actually good - 40 minutes ...

To paraphrase that classic Humphrey Bogart dialogue at the end of Casablanca:  “Maybe not today or tomorrow but soon and for the rest of our lives . . . this world is going to disappoint us.”

So, from the beginning of time, God has had a plan for me, for you, for all of us. It says so in the book of Jeremiah ... "for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for a future full of hope." That's the part we all know ... always a future of hope, great plans for us. There's another part, it not only promises hope, goodness, and joy - but also suffering and that God will see us through it. Now, I feel like I haven't really had a lot of suffering in my life ... I've never encountered a huge loss, my parents are both still alive and well, and I'm healthy. Although I think being single in our world is a huge suffering! There's so many opportunities to be discouraged, fall into despair, and/or just plain settle for less than we really want. I fell much discouragement in this regard ... offering it up tonight for that man out there, whoever these plans include!

Since I was very young I always thought I would be a teacher and a mom. I was always playing house, teaching the baby dolls, and playing the part. In high school my best friends were the other kids in my youth group, those whose faith was also important to them. It seems that the Lord had different plans for me, and probably for the best. I went to college with the intention of being a youth minister (which I am now) and finding the husband - the one God set apart for me. Well, met some really great guys - none of them the one for me. Some are engaged now, married already with a few kids, or have joined the monastery (I went to a Benedictine college - many of the guys making life-long decisions to join this religious life). I left still waiting ... practicing all of that patience that I had asked the Lord for ... possibly the first mistake! You know what they say - when you pray for patience, God doesn't give patience, He provides opportunities for you to grow in patience. He...