Pick up Your Cross: A Letter

Dear friend, 

Being a saint does not consist of great and marvelous deeds or being angelically perfect.  We are called, each and every one of us, to become saints by picking up our crosses daily and following the greatest teacher there ever was.  Even He stumbled and fell under the crushing weight of the cross.  We cannot do more than Him.   We will fall but we most certainly can get back up again.  Our Lord is always there to pick you back up as you know how impossible it is to get back up on your own.  And He gives you friends and family too to help you.  In marriage, that's the job of your spouse.  The couple denies themselves and helps the other carry their cross.  In religious life, these people are your sisters or brothers.

Your cross is not a physical piece of wood or even a martyrdom of blood.  Your cross is the everyday struggle you encounter.  Bear these struggles patiently, humbly, and resigned knowing that God will not let you suffer more than you and He can handle together.

The path to sainthood is the path to Heaven and this path is paved with roses.  But roses have thorns.  But imagine if we gave up altogether because of the thorns.  Then we wouldn't see the beautiful roses nor smell their lovely fragrance.  Greater still, we would not reach Heaven.  So we must continually embrace these roses and thorns looking to Our Lord and Our Lady for help.  They suffered so much at the hands of this world; how can we expect any less?

Moms are wonderful.  Just imagine how Our Lady is wanting to be your mother.  St. Thérèse said,

"She is more mother than queen."

Our mothers always want what's best for us and always want to help us.  Mary wants to do the same even more.  Imagine those hands which carried the child Jesus, mended His clothes, prepared His food, and held His lifeless body as it came off the cross.  Now, Mary extends her arms to you.  These hands are open to you with so many graces.  But most especially, they're just open; open to you so you may take her hands, no matter how low you feel.  Then when you do, she will draw you under her starry blue mantle.  There, she will teach you just how to follow her beloved Son.  She will give you the graces to carry your cross. 

All this is to say,  do not despair, do not lose heart, and do not sell yourself short.  My favorite heroine of literature says,

"Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it yet."

Let us begin each day anew to pick up our crosses no matter how tedious or troublesome they may be.  There are so many saints in Heaven who have not been canonized who did not do extraordinary deeds but just followed Our Lord simply and humbly, stumbling many times along the way.  But they fought their battles bravely and that is what we must do too.

So let us soldier on, bearing our crosses and enduring those thorns while helping each other with our prayers.  You may always be assured of my prayers.

In cordibus Jesu et Mariae,

Sarah 

Balancing Social Media and Spiritual Growth

 I recently did an "Ask me Anything" on my personal Instagram and received a very thoughtful question; 

"How to manage your time on social media and grow in holiness too?!?"

This question is super important and actually something I've struggled with a lot myself recently.  It is so easy to pick up your phone to scroll through posts and reels yet we make it so hard to set aside a chunk of the same amount of time to read a spiritual book or just converse with God in prayer.  I've tried setting social media timers on my phone but of course, I can just snooze them.  Once you've made a habit of gravitating to social media, it's hard to get disciplined.

The first option I've thought of is deleting social media entirely and that would certainly work.  But that's not always necessary.  Instead, we can develop our spirits by cultivating discipline and practicing self-denial.  Yes, this is very hard but it certainly can be done.  We think, because of the addictive nature of our phones, that we can't overcome the struggle but anything is possible with God's grace and this is a perfect way to grow spiritually.  As followers of Christ, we are called to imitate Him and He certainly practiced perfect self-denial in His agony and on the road to Calvary.  You may really have to commit yourself but it will definitely be worth it.  Don't rely on social media timers to keep you accountable.  Practice discipline and hold yourself accountable.

A small way I am trying to balance social media with growth in holiness is to not pick up my phone and turn off airplane mode until I've prayed morning prayers.  This may seem very small but once you turn notifications back on, one can lead to another, and then you've missed your time for morning prayer entirely.

Another small way to practice growth in holiness can stem from our time on social media.  We scroll and scroll so quickly, often skimming most captions or not reading them at all.  Instead of scrolling right past that Saint quote in the caption or story, read it all the way through.  Read it thoughtfully.  Take the opportunity on social media to learn about your faith if it comes across your screen.  If you find a good quote or image that just really speaks to you, turn off the phone and meditate on it for a minute, but don't pick the phone back up again.  Instead, let it sink in while you get back to life!

There are so many good resources on social media that share valuable truths of our Faith.  The trick is to balance consuming these with our actual time in growth with God.  Placing morning prayers before turning on your phone is just one small example of this.  Placing quality over quantity is important too.  Don't allow yourself to follow as many sources as possible but instead, pick and choose the most reliable sources that uphold your values.  Then you'll be sure to consume purposeful, edifying content.

Let's soak in the beauty of the world around us, imperfect though it may be, instead of just through the screen of our phone.  Invest yourself in your family instead of wishing for the perfect Instagram family.  But most importantly, spend time in prayer with God instead of just reading about prayer in someone else's posts.  That is the surest way of growing in holiness.

Our Lord is waiting for you to put down the phone, step away from the computer, and just be with Him.

Commitment to Your Purpose

As I flew high over the skies of America to visit my dear family friends in East Texas, I read the newest edition of the Magnolia Journal and it's all about commitment to purpose.  As I read it though, I wondered what my purpose is and how do I commit to it? 

I know my general purpose; to get to Heaven and to love God for all eternity.  And I know that purpose translates to the everyday.  But how am I supposed to carry out that commitment?  I don't have much to call my own.  I have no house, husband, children, job, or hobby that is entirely mine.  I'm still under my parents' roof babysitting other people's children.  I long for the day I have my own to commit to.  So what can I commit to today?  

Maybe I can't commit to anything material, but I can commit to loving others, giving myself, and loving God.  And this can be done in concrete ways.  I can shape and prepare myself for my future purpose of wife and, God willing, mother.  I need to cook, clean, design, fix, and learn to prepare myself for the real show.  Single life is really a dress rehearsal in a way.  But of course, there are parts that are unrepeatable.  So we have to live entirely like tomorrow is not guaranteed.  Love and serve God no matter whether your future has arrived.  You don't need your own things; spouse, kids, house, life, to do this successfully.  Whatever opportunities that are placed in front of you are perfect to make your purpose.

Don't get wrapped up in trying to fulfill others' purposes.  It can be very easy to think we need to be doing the things others are doing in order to have a fulfilling life.  I love looking at the Instagrams of homemakers, wives, mothers, and creators.  But I can get dissatisfied with my own life by following theirs.  Instead, I need to be inspired by their commitment to their purpose and translate that to my own life.  Put down the phone and get back to your own reality.  (I'll talk about that more in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!)

Your purpose is to know, love, and serve God in this life and be happy with Him in the next.  Commit to this purpose and you will find fulfillment, not a fulfillment the world promises, but the fulfillment only Our Lord can give.

Email Subscription Crisis Averted

 Hello friends!  What a dramatic title, eh? 😉

I know it's already been almost two months since my last little update on here, but I have one more before I dive back in to the real posts.  Thank you so much for bearing with me!

You know how I said that Blogger was ending their e-mail subscription?  Well, never fear because I have found another very simple means of subscribing to your favorite blogs!  Simply use the widget on the sidebar under Followers to subscribe to my blog with Bloglovin'.  

Of course, my favorite option is to follow blogs using the Blogger feed, but then you don't get an e-mail to your inbox every time a new post is published, so this will solve that problem, hopefully.  Please let me know if you have any problems with it as I'm only just trying it out!

In cordibus Jesu et Mariae,

Sarah