Ordinary Miracle

Often throughout the day we are bombarded with so many distractions. We have so much "stuff" to do. We go, go, go. Between the diaper changes and preparing meals, keeping the kids playing and entertained and keeping the house in order, working and commuting, going to school and studying, we don't stop to admire the ordinary miracles throughout the day. The single rose that just bloomed in your otherwise empty garden. The splash of clouds on a beautifully sunny day. The large tree shading a nice grassy area on a scorching hot summer day. The pounding rain that soothes your child to sleep. The clap of thunder that sends your child running into your arms for comfort. 

We let these miracles slip by without a thought. Seeing them as inconveniences. Wishing them away.

Although there are many glorious, unrepeatable miracles God has given us, there are many miracles so ordinary, we forget to thank God for these gifts. We forget to stop and smell the roses in our heavily saturated world of distractions from the truly important moments in life. Instead of embracing those moments

of your child's embrace that will be quickly outgrown, seeing each meal as one step in their growth, knowing the rain will bring forth many blessings, and feeling the warmth of the sun keeping us warm, we forget that God is showing us Himself and His love for us.

As Saint Bonaventure said, "If there is anyone who is not enlightened by this sublime magnificence of created things, he is blind. If there is anyone who, seeing all these works of God, does not praise Him, he is dumb; if there is anyone who, from so many signs, cannot perceive God, that man is foolish."

And, 

"In everything, whether it is a thing sensed or a thing known, God Himself is hidden within. "

Embrace your ordinary miracles this week and Praise God!

 

 

 

Re-Defining Beauty

Yes. This is, in fact, a new blog post. (What? Quick, check the date. September. What year? This year! Nice.) Our lives have been busy (as all lives are) but we here are feeling called to once again take to our keyboards and write about our lives, our faith, and the beauty we see (and try to be) in this world. I was thinking about beauty and what to write and I remembered hearing a quote from Pope Benedict about how the world needs beauty, and how true beauty always leads to God. But I guess I forgot to pin it, so in searching for it, I found this: 

"What is capable of restoring enthusiasm and confidence, what can encourage the human spirit to rediscover its path, to raise its eyes to the horizon, to dream of a life worthy of its vocation -- if not beauty?" 

Still Pope Benedict. He said it in his Address to Artists. And really - I think this says what I wanted to say about this blog. I think we all write not just to get our thoughts down, or to help us keep ourselves thinking about the different aspects of beauty (when I know I'm going to write soon, I tend to think about what I could say when my mind wanders. And since it wanders a lot - it's nice to be almost continually thinking about beauty). But I think we write to help restore enthusiasm and confidence. To encourage ourselves and others to find/rediscover our path. To raise our eyes to the Son on the horizon and to dream and then act on what our lives would be like if we truly fulfilled our vocations. I thought it was a nice thought. Maybe nicer than the original one I had been thinking of. And so I think I'll end this post how Pope Benedict ended his talk:

"Let the beauty that you express by your God-given talents always direct the hearts of others to glorify the Creator, the source of all that is good. God's blessings upon you all!"

The Mother of the Mother of God

A saint who, to me, defines Beauty is the mother of the most beautiful woman to ever exist. Not only did Mary likely resemble her own mother physically, but she was the one who formed her, taught her, and nurtured her. As a wife and mother, I look to St. Anne because she had a holy marriage, as her husband is also a saint, and she raised a saint. When I think of my personal spiritual goals, that's it: for my husband, my children and I to all become the saints God wants us to be. The best way to achieve that, is for me to be a saint...no pressure ;-)

St. Anne participated in the immaculate conception, although she herself, was not conceived without sin. God saw her as a worthy vessel for the most perfect human being ever created. She housed Mary in her womb, and then housed her in her home, preparing her for that fiat that brought our Savior into the world. St. Anne was just like us. We are just as capable as she was of raising saints, of building holy marriages, and of personal sanctity. She was beautiful because she was the woman God wanted her to be, and I bet, considering how beautiful Mary has been reported to be, by those she's appeared to, St. Anne was physically beautiful as well.

So if you are a wife & mother, don't forget this beautiful woman who lived her vocation to the fullest. And if you are a Grandma, remember to pray to St. Anne all the more, because she's Jesus's Grandma!

Finding a Healthy Balance

I was recently listening to a friend of mine describe a diet that she was following.  You sign up with a company who provides you with all of your food and a meal plan to follow.  You cannot deviate from the meal plan at all-- but you also do not have to think or worry about what to eat, and what not to eat.  My friend was convinced that this was perfect for her, because she felt that she could not trust herself to make the right choices when it came to eating.

I think what surprised me the most was the rest of the women in the room's response to the idea of dieting.  The majority of the group seemed to speak about dieting as though it were necessary, and a part of everyday life.  These days there are hundreds and thousands of different diets out there, and hundreds of companies and books who make a profit in claiming to "help" you lose weight.  Have you ever found it ironic that as the diet industry grows, so does our waistlines?  More than ever, obesity is becoming a health issue in our country.  I realize that there are many many factors involved, but I can't help but wonder if "dieting" is part of the problem.

As a teenager, I spent some time controlling my weight with VERY restrictive eating.  I was able to sustain it for a few years, but eventually things started to spin out of control.  I was on a starvation/binge cycle-- feeling more out of control than ever.

I often still struggle with my relationship with food, but I can promise you that at this time in my life, I do not use any form of self-control when it comes to food.  I eat whatever I want, whenever I want.  If I were to be completely honest, I would tell you that I have dessert after every meal, and often in between as well.  I eat when I am hungry, and (most of the time) do not eat when I am not.  And I am not fat-- in fact, I have never felt better. 

By listening to my body's cues, I have been able to find a peaceful balance with food.  God gave us food as fuel, but also for pleasure!  There will be some days when I will eat a nutrient-dense salad, but there will be other days when I polish off an entire batch of brownies.  There will be some days when I walk 7 miles, and others when I don't walk much further than the distance from my living room to my kitchen.  There will be days when my skinny jeans will stay hung up in my closet, and days when I wear them comfortably.  And hopefully, if I listen to what my body needs, on most days I will fall somewhere in between.

I have no doubt that my friend will lose some weight if she follows the diet appropriately.  But what about afterward?  I am willing to bet that a diet like this will never help you to feel better about your body.  This is because most diets train its followers to ignore their bodies hunger cues.  If we aren't listening to our bodies, how will we learn to identify our body's cues when we are full from eating?  How will we know when our body needs food for energy, or perhaps a meal for comfort? 

Beauty is not defined by fitting into a certain size of jeans.  Beauty is about being the person who God made you to be.  We need to trust that by listening to our bodies, we will find a healthy balance.  And lastly, we should be praising Him that eating is enjoyable-- I can't imagine it any other way!

Mary's Beauty

I too, was inspired by this discussion of beauty. I remembered one of my favorite parts of my favorite book, Bishop Fulton Sheen's "Three to Get Married," that I had to look up and share...

In his chapter on reverence for the body, Bishop Sheen discusses how the body is precious because of the preciousness of the soul within it. The body is holy because the soul is holy. He then goes on to describe Mary.

"Mary's beautiful purity must have been such that it attracted less the eyes than the souls of men. No one would have loved her mind or soul because of the beauty of her body, but they would have loved her beauty of soul as almost to forget she even had a body. It is very likely that a human eye, looking on Mary, would scarcely have been conscious that she was beautiful to the eye. Just as corrupt men are made pure in thought by the sight of an innocent child, so all fleshly thoughts would have been left behind by one vision of the Immaculate Mother. As one listens to a consummate artist playing the piano, one forgets that he has hands; so, in the ravishing melodies of Mary's Immaculateness, one would have hardly averted to that fleshly keyboard from which they came...

The cult of the body is best served by the cult of the soul. It is a by-product, not a goal; it is a fruit, not a root. That is why no one ever becomes truly beautiful until he stops trying to make himself beautiful and begins making himself good. Mary was not 'full of grace' because she was beautiful; she was beautiful because she was full of grace."

I could not have compared to the wisdom and beauty of the words of Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Finding Beautiful

We have had several posts recently about being beautiful so I thought it was an appropriate time to reflect with you all about how I came to find true beauty...

When I was a little girl I was a ballerina. I dreamed of one day dancing professionally but when I was in high school puberty didn't treat me so well and in a very short period of time I went from a slender dancer to a chubby teenager. I ended up hurting my knee and used that as my excuse for never having a real dance career. I know it had more to do with my confidence and weight issues. I did not see myself as beautiful. I didn't get much male attention and because I wasn't confident in my looks I failed to see myself as beautiful.

After college I decided I wanted to loose some weight. I not only lost some weight, I lost a lot of weight. I started getting a lot of male attention which encouraged me in my weight loss. (as a side note, I have an amazing Father, so these issues do not always stem from dads) I thought this would make me feel beautiful but honestly it didn't.

Then, two years ago I went on a mission trip to Honduras. It was there that I finally saw what real beauty is. I saw people who the world would not call beautiful but who are the true definition of beautiful. The people I served had a beauty that radiated from the inside out. For the first time in my life I met beauty that felt real and unfading. It was a beauty like what I imagine for the Blessed Mother. After Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette people asked Bernadette to explain what she looked like. She could not describe what she looked like but kept saying that she was the most beautiful lady. Her beauty was not external. It came from the essence of who Mary is. This is the beauty that I was craving. That is the beauty that women are called to bring to this world. It is no wonder I wasn't finding it through all my efforts with my body.

Now I don't worry so much about my weight or if people think I am beautiful physically. Yes I take time to get dressed and not look run down but I know that if I really want to be beautiful I need to make my soul beautiful. My focus is on working towards the beauty that Bernadette saw in our Blessed Mother and the beauty we all saw in Mother Teresa.

So girls, know through the skirt dare that what will make you more beautiful this month is not just the skirts you wear but how you allow your soul to also be a reflection of Mary the true model of femininity. During this month of skirts allow your heart to be open to loving more like her and you will find in yourselves a lasting eternal beauty.

Saintly Beauty

"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul."

-St. Augustine

My Lack of Control

Eating Disorders are often connected to a person’s desire for control. Being unable to control outside events during one’s life, it is common for victims to focus on their weight and body image- to a point of an obsession, or disorder. Being a dancer who has gone through hours of eating disorder counseling, I thought that I have had my desire for control over my body, under control. That is, until I became pregnant. If there is one thing about pregnancy that is absolutely clear, it is this: I am not in control. Sometimes it is unclear whether my precious little baby boy is in control, or whether God is in control… but it is never me!

In the first trimester, sickness and nausea forced me to constantly nibble on carb-rich foods. To make things even more challenging, my nausea made exercise impossible… And believe it or not, this lack of diet and exercise was disturbing enough to keep me awake at night, feeling lousy about myself.

As timed passed, my aversion to many healthy foods, such as grilled chicken and vegetables faded, and I felt as though I could be “good” again (in diet language, good means healthy). But of course, the lingering nausea as well as my body’s desire to gain weight made me throw my food plan out of the window…again. Nope, still not in control.

As I approach the end of my pregnancy, now comes another challenging new aspect: my intense fear of being fat. For somebody who has spent so many years of her life putting value in appearances, suddenly feeling like a balloon version of myself has been a great struggle. It doesn’t help that the first thing people around you do is check you out from bottom to top, and even comment on your appearance. Talk about feeling self-conscious!

My purpose for this post is not to rant on about my insecurities and worries about my body. Nevertheless, since our blog is titled “Defining Beauty”, I felt that this subject is very appropriate, and I am fairly confident that I am not the only woman who has struggled in this area. In theory, I realize that pregnancy makes women are even more beautiful, due to the fact that God entrusts their bodies to house His brand new souls. So why is it that society’s standards of beauty are so engrained in our minds, that it is difficult for women to see the beauty in giving their life for their child?

The thing is, we are NOT in control-- God is. And God has made us all beautiful, in His image. If we let go and let Him stay in control of our lives, then we will reach our most beautiful potential. God has called me to motherhood, and answering this call is worth more than any pair of size 0 jeans.

Welcome Fall

I've always considered myself a summer girl, but I have to admit that this time of year gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The crisp fresh air, blue skies, the smell of fireplaces being lit and cool snuggle-appropriate nights are just a few things that I love. I also love wearing scarves, and deep fall color sweaters again. I love picking pumpkins and roasting the pumpkin seeds after! I love the returned smells of hot tea, coffee, chili, baked goods and other comfort foods that are only fitting for cooler weather.

Although we don't get much of it in Southern California, I have fond memories of apple-picking and jumping in piles of brightly-colored crunchy leaves as a child. We would take family drives through wildlife to admire breathtaking colorful sites. It is as though God took a paintbrush to nature Himself! Such beauty!

Ok, its your turn, what do YOU love about fall??