Sacrifice and Humility

I took my daughter to the park this past Saturday.  We had just finished running errands.  Although it's the middle of January in New York, the temperature is in the mid fifties.   We weren't the least bit chilly while going store to store across parking lots without our coats. There was a slightly cold breeze that came about here and there.

So there we were at the playground for all of three minutes when I find it is suddenly very cold.  That intermittent, somewhat cold,  breeze had become icy and frequent. My daughter, clad in her pink puffer and white high tops, felt perfectly snug while happily running from the swing set to the jungle gym and back again.  It seems children do not feel the cold as much as adults do.  I told her it was too cold to stay very long.

We were the only people there.  A half hour had passed and I decided I couldn't take the cold any longer.  At that moment two children arrived with their parents.  Oh how my daughter's face lit up with excitement!  Instead of telling her we were leaving, I encouraged her to make a friend.  She did so and was soon zooming all over the playground with her afternoon bestie.  As I shivered watching them in all their innocent glory, I recalled a particularly cold day at the park with my own mother, God rest her soul.  I was my daughter's age then and everything was covered in snow. The lake was a glorious sheet of sparkling glass.  The tips of the trees were adorned with dazzling icicles.  To my child eyes, this place was a winter wonderland that needed to be explored! Might I add, this park had three levels and boasts 209 acres!

My mother indulged my desire to walk and see all the beauty there.  She loved it too.  What her body didn't love was losing feeling.  After some time she suggested we start heading home.  My reply? "Walk mommy, please."  So we continued our adventure.

When we eventually returned home to our apartment across the street she was visibly an ice cube! She hurriedly removed her tattered boots and wet socks and made for the bath.  She soaked her frozen feet in hot water and yet she smiled.  Despite her pain, she smiled for my joy! When she had thawed, she made us hot cocoa and we talked about all we had seen.

It seems, until we have our own children to sacrifice warm toes or a quiet night for, we never really acknowledge or understand the sacrifices our parents made for us.  What about the sacrifice God made for all of us? Can we humble ourselves to recognize and appreciate that? With what all our mothers have done for us, will our Lord and Savior, the one who created mothers, not do more so? Has He not already? What will you sacrifice?

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 3:16

Sex Is In...Guess Who's Out

It's amazing to see how much times have changed.  Some things for the better for sure, like the end of slavery.  In recent years the morale of our society has been falling like a mudslide.  Does anyone remember when it was unheard of to swear at work?  I sure do, and I am only in my thirties.  I wish I could say that was the worst of it.  Unfortunately, decorum has disappeared and has been replaced with raunchy sex driven conversations...even in the workplace!  Last night's conquest is not something I wish to know about my co-worker.  Nor do I wish to know their sexual fetishes and fantasies.  Better yet, this is acceptable but Heaven forbid someone mentions God!  Imagine saying the phrase "Thank God it's Friday!" and having it met with the correction "Thankfully it's Friday!" followed by "No one is to discuss God here!" As a Catholic, who loves God, this breaks my heart.  As a decent human being, save the religious choice, this downright infuriates me.  Our society is deteriorating into a cesspool of all things foul are acceptable and all things of morality are condemned.  Is this the Twilight Zone?    Freedom of speech has to work on all sides but we have entered a time when only the immoral are allowed to have speech.  Be careful not to hurt their feelings with the truth!  I will not be silenced and I will fight, but I will not fight dirty.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1 Corinthians 6:18

What's Wrong With Kindness?

When I was a child in school class began with saying good morning.   We were taught, by example to be kind, to wait our turn in line, and to just be respectful towards one another.  Basic social skills, right?  Today my seven year old came home and was a bit upset. She told me that no one even says hello when entering the school building, and no one says good morning upon arrival in the classroom.  She stated that an administrator she liked has left the school and has been replaced by one she isn't so fond of.  The woman she liked would compliment her and thank her for holding a door open for the next student.  Today, she was scolded for holding the door open for the next student behind her.  So what is essentially being taught is that kindness is no longer valued.  Are we really so rushed and stressed that a moment of kindness costs too much time?  Can we truly afford the cost of not spending that moment?  Where will society find itself in a month, a year, five years if this unpleasant trend continues?