MAY 8 TO 31
There is a common saying here in South Louisiana. "Let the good times roll!" How can we have
"good times" when we feel miserable?
We don't just happen to feel miserable or sad. We choose to be so. We have very limited control
over what happens to us. We have a lot of control over how we react to what happens to us.
PRAYER
God, help me to take a few seconds today to enjoy some of the good things you offer.
REFLECTION
The prayer sounds so simple and so basic. But like many things which are simple it is not easy. How
can I take the time to enjoy the good things which God offers unless I recognize the good things?
In ordinary times it is often difficult to recognize good things which happen to us. When I am
grieving and sad it is even more difficult. Some of the very best things God offers us do not appear
to us to be good. How then can we see the good in the things for which we grieve?
Then we live at such a fast pace that many good things pass us by before we are even aware that
they have happened. So for our prayer to be answered great effort is required on our part.
This is the time of Mother's Day.
ACTION
If your mother is dead:
Buy your mother a present and give it to a single mother, a poor mother or any mother who might not
get any gifts.
"Adopt" a mother from the local nursing home who might have no one to visit her or take her out on
Mother's Day.
As a way of remembering your mother set her a place each time you sit down to eat during the week
or month of Mother's Day. Prepare some of her favorite foods.
In your diary:
List some of the special "Mother's Day" you remember from the past.
Write one or two good things that have happened to you in the last month.
Don't forget the basic questions
Is there anyone I need to forgive?
What experiences are still hard for me?
Have I reached out to anyone lately?
Are there still ways I am saying "no" to life?
Enjoy the remaining days of spring. It will be hot soon.
Call a friend who may be lonely.
Make some time for yourself. Do something you enjoy.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
We think loneliness comes from absence of friends and companions. We can have everything we
want and desire and still be lonely. Loneliness comes from a sense of incompleteness. WE want
something more in our lives. Our lives are not completely fulfilled. We will never stop being lonely
as long as we are incomplete. Even when we have what we long for, what we dream about we remain
lonely.
Think of this, Our dreams and desires are symbolic. We often take them literally. So our dreams are
never fulfilled. We remain lonely.
Those for whom we grieve are real. They are also related to us symbolically. Use your dairy to
answer the following questions:
What do(es) the person(s) for whom I grieve represent to me?
Why was each person important to me?
Do I still have what made that person important to me?
TO CONTINUE
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