Spiritual Christmas "Food" for Thought

Since the baptism of my son, and truth be told a few months before that, I started thinking much more deeply about God, religion, spirituality and what that meant for me and for my family.  Originally, I did not want to baptize Porter.  I didn't want to push anything onto his spirituality.  I believed that it is an intensely personal choice, and as long as he could speak to his choice intelligently, I would support it.  But, as time when on, it was really important to Neil and our family to baptize him, so in the end, I decided that having a religious foundation not only wouldn't hurt. I decided that it could actually have a positive impact on our family and my own spiritual growth.  We chose to baptize him Catholic.  Both Neil and I were baptized Catholic (though Neil grew up active in the Lutheran Church), and to be honest, I wanted him to be a Catholic, just because coming from the idea of not baptizing him, I at least felt like Catholicism was something I knew.... somewhat. We went through an awesome baptism prepclass and Neil and I had several great discussions about faith, religion and spirituality and how it played into our family.  Unfortunately, both of us left regular Church and religion so many years ago, that for some reason or another, we have not really been back since Porter's baptism in early August.

But, I have been doing a lot of thinking and contemplating about my own spirituality. It has surprisingly become a VERY big deal to me. I have talked with some very sweet friends (you know who you are!) that have entertained all of my questions, thoughts and issues.  I am really lucky to have them in my life right now and I am very grateful.  I am not quite sure how this path will unfold yet, there are still things I am not ready to put out there for everyone, but I am happy to have them tucked into the private and friendly relationships in my life.... for now at least!

Part of this new mindset/obsession, is spiritual reading.  I have gotten some fantastic book recommendations and then while organizing Porter's baptism, I found out that Father Joe, my FAVORITE Irish priest, who has now retired, writes a blog called Aisling on Earth. I love to read it and his recent post really resonated with me both personally and spiritually and aligned with my own previous blog post nicely.  It is great spiritual food for the soul for the week.  Something I need to think, pray and mediate about and I wanted to share part of it. Something I think everyone should think about, especially this time of year.  Here is the part that really made me think.

From Fr. Joe Hennesey's blog; A virus to desire.... or avoid?

As I enjoyed my cereal this morning, I read the following in the daily paper; “The well of Providence is deep. It's the buckets we bring to it that are small.” So wrote a Scottish religious leader, at the turn of the last century. I would like to suggest, it is not about just the size of the bucket, it also depends on the condition of the bucket. If I want the bucket of my soul to be filled up, I must make sure there is no garbage taking up the space, we are inviting our Gracious God to fill up. Our spiritual garbage has been described in the following manner;

G...Guilt,

A...anger,

R..resentment,

B..boredom,

A..anxiety,

G..greed, and

E...envy.

Being spiritual beings on a human journey, we are very much aware of the garbage we encounter in the daily living of our lives. We must not allow that garbage to detract from the wonder, and the mystery of who we are and the dignity that is ours, as the result of our God's plan for us. We must continue to allow God to fine tune the lens of our faith so we become more and more enlightened. We must actively invite our God to awaken in us the real depth His love for us, and to the life He has called us to live. Advent is a time we are given to re-orientate ourselves so we will become more available. Advent is an opportunity to stop, yes!! STOP, and reevaluate what is the real in depth meaning of this precious time, and season. One person has written, "Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, science, and religion."

 
I just loved this concept.  I am starting to see the light and necessity of personal accountability.  I was recently told, that the second we point one finger at someone else, we have three more pointing right back at ourselves. Eeeek, very true and very hard to swallow! Blame is a slippery slope. So, I think this is the lesson that is supposed to be mine right now.  It keeps coming up, in work challenges, personal challenges, marital challenge, financial challenges...... and there is no place to hide.  BUT there is infinite freedom in change and personal accountability.I have seen that if you want a change in something or someone you must first take on that change yourself, you must pray and you must be grateful. in the words of Ghandi, "Be the change you wish to se in the world". Take responsibility and move on.  Be done with spiritual garbage, so that we may be free to accept the blessings available to us.  Once we acknowledge it, we are free to change it. When we know better, we do better.  So, I try.  It is all I can do.  And so far, the small, daily changes I have made in myself have inspired a whole lot more peace and change in other areas of my life. And I am just getting started! It is an exciting journey.