Lose 20 pounds by Christmas

I know what sells magazines. Tell people how they can look and feel better. And, if you do want to lose 20 lbs by Christmas, you can. There are about 2,000 different diet plans that will get you there. The keys to success are setting goals, having accountability, eating less, and moving more. It's not rocket science. But, I did not really want to write a post on weight loss tips. What I wanted my title to read is, "How to get closer to God by Christmas." How do we get closer to God? Closeness to God is difficult to quantify, but I think we can use the same approach to spiritual well-being as we do our physical well-being.

First, we can set spiritual goals. Have you ever set a spiritual goal? What would that look like? A good goal is measurable and achievable. For example, I will do spiritual reading for 20 minutes each morning for 2 weeks. Reading daily for 20 minutes might be achievable for some, but not for others. So, know your limitations. Once you achieve this goal, you can evaluate your progress. Do you feel closer to God? Another way of evaluating this is to ask yourself if you feel that your faith is strengthened.

Next, incorporate accountability into your spiritual growth. You can get your spouse to do this with you. Or you can ask a friend or group of friends to join you. Or, if you want to keep it personal and private, you can keep a journal and check off each time you make your goal. The journal can also be a place to record your thoughts about your spiritual journey.

Families can set goals, too. My family would like to get together to say the rosary. But, often, life gets in the way and days and weeks pass without a family rosary. However, if we set a goal together as a family, one that is measurable and achievable, then, we are much more likely to sit down together. A daily family rosary with kids, two of whom are toddlers, is not achievable for us. However, we can gather at least once a week, perhaps on Sunday evenings, to say a family rosary. If we do this for 2 weeks and we feel good about our progress, then maybe we can start gathering twice a week. And we could progress towards a daily family rosary by Christmas.

Now, what about the eating less and moving more? Well, that doesn't apply to spiritual growth, directly. But, you can certainly sin less and do more works of mercy. How do you sin less? First, start with a clean slate. Make a thorough examination of your conscience. Then, go to confession. This will absolve you of all your sins and give you the sanctifying grace to avoid those same sins in the future. Set a confession goal, too. My family makes it a goal to go once per month. Frequent confession is the key to sinning less. And if you do this once per month, you will find that your faith is strengthened and you will be closer to God by Christmas.

Increasing works of mercy is another way to grow closer to God. And, goal setting will help you achieve this. Having accountability partners will also make it more likely that you will do more works of mercy. We have a family friend who is in a nursing home. And, if we do not set a goal and schedule a visit, life gets in the way. And before we know it a week goes by, or a month or several months before we realize that we have not visited our friend. We cannot let that happen. If we do achieve our goal, we not only please a friend but also and we find ourselves in compliance with Christ's greatest commandment, to love one another as He loves us.

Of course, I might want to think about those weight loss goals, too. I mean, what is Christmas without cookies and candy canes? It might be good to make a little exta room for all that yumminess without feeling too guilty.

I ♥ Haters

I saw those words on a bumper sticker the other day. At first blush, it felt like the sticky vinyl equivalent to an offensive hand gesture to all who have the misfortune of driving behind the owner's vehicle. But, as a I continued on down the road, I gave it a little more thought. I let the image of the red heart and the words float around in a more complex area of my brain. The bumper sticker did not say, "I ♥ Hate." I hate the word hate. I am frequently lamenting to my children that there is no equivalent for the word hate in Spanish. So, I tell them there is no reason we need to use it just because the English language wants to be so darn specific. Rather, I ask them to say, "I don't like (fill in the blank)." No, the bumper sticker said, " I ♥ Haters." Haters are people, ergo, the owner of the vehicle is expressing his love for people, even if they hate. So, in the final analysis, the driver is boasting of Godly love, the love that we must work at, the love that has no immediate pay off.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Corinthians 1 13:13

"Who put the potty in the playpen?!"

That's just one of the questions that I shout to myself on a random Saturday morning when no one is around to hear me. Picture this: I come downstairs after my kids and my husband have let me sleep in. It is quiet in the house because they have all left for the morning to go about their Saturday activities. I ignore the scattered Lego's that I trip over to get to my cup of coffee. I ignore the orange colored glob of something that has just attached itself to my sleeve. I sip. I walk through the kitchen, assessing my morning plan. Then, it happens. "Who put paper cups in the dishwasher?!" I start to see the trail that they have left behind. I breathe deep. I exhale. I sip. And I realize that I have two choices. I can yell at the ceiling and wave my fist at the heavens and whimper...why me? Or...cue the harp...I can take a deep breath and fall to my knees and thank God for the footprints and fingerprints that are evidence of the life I live. And now, the pool of yogurt in the corner of the dining room is no longer a source of discontent, but rather a moment filled with Grace and my path is laid out before me.



But, wait. How do we get from point A to point B? What if you have a difficult child? A sick husband? What if the car breaks down at the same time that a big tuition bill is due? I don't mean to trivialize the tests that can be laid before us by suggesting that we be little Mary sunshine all day long. But, our actions reveal the faith that we proclaim. If we are fearful of what will happen next or full of rage for the carelessness of others, then we are shouting out with our actions that there is no God. It is that plain. We allow ourselves to chip away at our faith with each outburst of indignation and with each time that we fail to accept humiliations as part of our spiritual growth.

There are steps we can take to clear our path to being the happy housewife, husband, son, or daughter. First, establish a daily spiritual habit. This can include prayers and reading. This step is most effective if it becomes the first thing you do each morning and the last thing you do each night. Second, get plenty of rest, eat right, limit alcohol intake and get some exercise. You will find that you have a deeper pool of resources if you take care of your body. Third, practice what you preach. If we demonstrate faith in small things, then we will be prepared to face greater challenges with greater faith. Examine areas in your life where you could rely on God, but you choose to rely on yourself. Fourth, look for opportunities to practice the virtue that is the direct opposite of whatever vice you are struggling with. Complement your difficult child the first time you see him do anything worth complementing. Donate to a charity when you are hit with a financial burden. Take on a physical challenge when you find that your physical abilities are limited. Fifth, become active in your faith community through volunteer work or activism. Offer to make phone calls for a committee, bake cookies for a fundraiser, or attend a pro-life rally. These are all ways that you can demonstrate to yourself and your loved ones that you have faith and that all things are possible with God. And by doing these things, you will find that you have the ability to smile and laugh next time you find a purple crayon drawing of Noah's ark in your stairwell.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

~Psalm 139

Do You Pray With Confidence?

There is this part in Mass where the priest says: "And now, let us pray with confidence in the words our Savior gave us." This is followed by the Our Father. I hear these words each week but, recently, they took on special meaning. While my father was in surgery, I stayed with my mother and we waited by her ipad (modern day pacing of hospital halls) for words from my brother who was at the hospital. My 2 1/2 year old daughter, perhaps sensing the tension and worry while playing in the room we were sitting in, heard us talking about "Poppy." She said "Poppy's going to be alright and he's gonna come home." Just like that.

From that moment, I decided, that rather than sit in worry, I should just pray with confidence that my father would recover. He came out of surgery in exactly the amount of time that the surgeon estimated and that was a great sign. However, I nearly fainted when I was able to see my father in ICU. He had so many tubes. I could see how uncomfortable he was and it broke my confidence. The next day, I held vigil with my siblings waiting for my father to come out of sedation. I could see that my brother, who is a physician, was concerned that there was a problem. I decided not to go to the hospital on the 3rd day because I was getting discouraged and my worry was clouding my ability to pray with confidence. Then, my sense of humor kicked in. I told my siblings that watching Dad recover was like watching paint dry and I was not going to sit by his bed for another day and watch him drool. They knew I was joking, but it was my way of saying to them this: He is going to be alright and he is going to come home! So, I stayed with my mother and I de-cluttered his side of the bed and his favorite areas of the house, getting ready for his return. The next morning, I got a text from my brother that said: Dad is back 100%!!!

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. ~Hebrews 4:16

PEACE BEGINS WITH A SMILE

Mother Theresa once said, "Peace begins with a smile." I thought of this the other day when I jolted to a stop at a stop sign where an elderly lady had paused before crossing. The jolt of my car startled her and she cast her eyes down and away from me. I tried smiling, apologetically, but was unable to meet her eyes. Then we were in a stand off because I was not going to move until after she crossed. But, in order for her to cross, she would have to make eye-contact. Alas, she looked up from her cane, cautiously, and my bright smile was waiting, accompanied by a gesture with my hands to "please cross." I wanted to roll down my window and tell her to have a lovely day. I wanted to tell her that I love seeing her walk around town with a cane and to please take her time and don't feel rushed. I wanted to tell her what a gift it was to see an elderly lady walking with a cane. It occurred to me that she is often met with glares of impatience and, perhaps, unkind words. Our youth-obsessed culture has no use for old ladies with canes. Rather, they are the butt of jokes. So, many, I am sure, opt to stay home where they can hobble in peace. I hope that my smile was enough to give her a little peace as she continued on her journey.

Juan Williams Fired for His Opinion

When analyzing the Muslim comment incident from last week's appearance by Bill O'Reilly on The View, Juan Williams said this on Bill O'Reilly's show, The Factor:
“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I've got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

He was saying this is the context of debunking the myth that all Muslims attacked us on 9/11. If you ask me, this is a page from Orwell's 1984. Recall thought police? Juan spoke too plainly and veered from Party doctrine. And he was fired for that.

Health Care Reform and Saving Lives

It has been a long and winding road for the health care reform bill as it makes it's way to the Senate floor. The past summer of discontent revealed a strong and loud voice of opposition to the public option and to any plan that would place the health care needs of the American people into the hands of the government. I can understand why people would oppose giving any type of control to the same government that handled Katrina or more recently, the economy. I am certainly not an economist, but John B Taylor is and he writes on his blog about another economist's views:"Cliff Winston of the Brookings Institution carefully reviews three decades of empirical research on a wide range of microeconomic policy studies in his important book Government Failure versus Market Failure. He comes to the same basic conclusion; as he puts it "thirty years of empirical evidence... suggests that the welfare cost of government failure may be considerably greater than that of market failure." I would rather face the consequences of market failure than government failure. When markets fail, the market can respond with innovative ways to find its own level again. When government programs fail, bureaucrats add new regulations to keep it going because, after all, it is someone else's money so the buck gets passed. I cannot think of a single government entitlement program that has made my life more complete. And it is not like I hail from a privileged dynasty. There was a few weeks in the summer of 1996 when I found myself unemployed, between jobs, laid off, as it were, and I applied for unemployment benefits because I qualified. You know what it did for me? It took the edge off of my desperate search and so I sent out a few resume's and headed to Guatemala to experience cultural exploration and to experience real poverty. It did not make me more motivated to seek employment...that came when the "benefits" were about to run out. I am not saying we don't need unemployment benefits. I am saying there is something wrong with calling it a benefit. I am sure it has helped a struggling family get through a difficult time. I am also sure that it has been abused, wasted, and is vulnerable to fraudulent use. But, again, it is someone else's money. I digress. Right now, we are facing government expansion like never before with nearly 2,000 pages of taxes and entitlements and lots of room for fraud and abuse. But, what is striking to me is that it is all coming down to a question of life. The pro-life advocates, of which I am a shameless member, have kept vigilant eyes on the bill. We have discovered that the bill is an expansion of abortion funding and creates a mandate for federally funded abortions. It is unacceptable and I am willing to bet that it will stop this health care monstrosity in its tracks and bring it to its knees. Abortion is not health care and more and more Americans agree. More and more Senators agree, too. We will not back down on this. Health care should save lives, not end them. Right now, American hospitals will not turn away a sick or injured person who cannot pay. But under this plan, we will see the rationing of health care via government standards that decide what treatments are necessary and who needs them. Go here and let your voice be heard.