One of the sins that I struggle most with is gossiping about the flaws I see in people, especially people who aggravate or annoy me. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step, so perhaps I am on my way to recovery. God willing...
So, today, something happened. Someone got on my nerves, even when I was trying to do something nice for this person. But instead of just doing the good deed and ignoring the annoyance, I felt that I just HAD to tell someone about the frustrating incident. So, that's what I did, even though I felt something tugging me to just let it go. After sharing the story (and making me come out looking really saintly and the other person looking dastardly), I immediately realized that I had boasted and fallen, once again, to that sin of gossiping. I felt bad, and hoped I would learn my lesson and do better in the future...
Then, I get home and wasted some time on the internet. No, not of Facebook, but even though I have given up FB, I still find plenty of other ways to waste my time. Anyways, I went to a site with the daily readings and meditations on the day's readings. Today Gospel was Luke 6:36-38, and the OT reading was Daniel 9:4-10. Both refer to God's mercy and forgiveness, and Luke points out that "the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
But it was the meditation that really got my attention. It pointed out clearly that it is our job as Christians to not only be loving and forgiving to those who are nice to us, but to show kindness, mercy and love even to those who hate and abuse us, or are ungrateful or selfish towards us. It is a great explanation of the readings, and if you want to read it for yourself, visit this site:
http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/index.html and pick March 1.
It always amazes me how God has such perfect timing in our lives. Why is it that we refuse to trust in Him? Why is it that we think that we need to be in control of EVERYTHING, rather than submitting to His divine plan for us? Hopefully, I will be able to learn this lesson, and grow, and trust more. May God bless you richly, and may we always recognize the lessons He is teaching us :)
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2 comments:
Rebecca, God is very "gentle" in showing us what we need to work on. As he makes you more aware of a certain area, he is also very patient as we make the same mistakes over and over -- just keeps supply the grace for us to come around to his way of thinking.
And once you do and this is less of a problem, he'll have something else all lined up that you're not even that aware of. And one day you'll go -- "I've been doing this all my life???" and it's on to the next thing.
So just keep letting him guide you and be patient with yourself too. You're on an amazing journey. :)
Thanks, Cindy. You're such a great help with all things Catholic and spiritual! I'm grateful that God not only put you in my life, but help to make me aware of what a gift and guide you are :)
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