Holy

The Golden Touch

If we could realize the merit concealed in the actions of each moment of the day… if we understood that surrender to the will of God is the true philosopher’s stone that changes into divine gold all our occupations, troubles, and sufferings, what great consolation would be ours!

I read this the other day in The Joy of Full Surrender by Jean-Pierre de Caussaude (chapter 9, Holy Made Easy) and I immediately thought of King Midas.

I’m sure you have heard of King Midas. He was a king of great fortune who wished for – The Golden Touch, for everything he touched to be turned to gold. Initially he received his wish with great joy, running through his castle turning everything to gold, but his joy quickly turn to fear as he realized even the food he tried to eat turned to gold before reaching his mouth, and finally his fear became true horror when he turned his own daughter to gold by giving her a hug.

Isn’t it crazy how quickly the desires of our flesh that seem good, can be twisted and turned into horrors? Yet with the eyes of faith, a heart of love, and a true desire to fully surrender to the Will of God, we all gain The Golden Touch and everything we do is changed into divine gold in His Heavenly Realm.

Matthew 6:19-21
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done!

This morning I woke up struggling with a conversation I had yesterday regarding my belief and thoughts on a topic that I had prayed, read and thought about for quite some time. I woke up wondering if I was being closed minded, hard hearted, and proud. In search of an answer I prayed, “Sweet Lord, please align both of us with Your Holy Will and please lead me to what You would like me to read this morning.”

After this prayer, I looked aimlessly through the books scattered around our house, and then finally decided to complete a few questions in my Bible study. After looking for my bag, I remembered that I had left it in the car. When I opened the door to retrieve it, I found page 16 from my disintegrating copy of The Joy of Full Surrender by Jean-Pierre de Caussade laying beside my bag and Chapter 8 jumped out at me.

It read…

Who is the Most Holy?

The will of God gives a supernatural and divine value to everything of the soul that is submitted to it. All the duties God’s will imposes, all those contained in it, all the matters it touches, become holy and perfect, because the will of God is unlimited in power and makes everything it touches divine.

Thank You my Sweet Lord – I submit myself again to You and pray to continually submit myself every day, every hour, every minute, every second for the rest of my life.

Thy Kingdom Come, They Will Be Done

Deep in the woods

My husband loves to camp, and I have grown to really enjoy it too. The last time we were camping, I was lying awake listening to the sounds of the night and I had an amazing thought…

What if we have lost our ability to clearly hear and understand the creatures of the night? To us they sound like noise, usually with a beat and in unison, but nothing more than a mixture of sounds, but what if they are really saying

“Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
– Revelation 4:8

Maybe all together and moving in unison and working as one, they become the four living creatures around the throne of God who are full of eyes all around and inside, singing praise to God our Father day and night without ceasing.

That night I listened and tried to hear it, but eventually I fell asleep, but you, my friends, whose hearts have remained holy and pure – listen because I am sure deep in the woods you will hear the the never ceasing praise sung by the very least creatures here on earth for the greatest of all, our Lord God the Almighty!

Wise men still seek Him

Wise men still seek Him not through study or intellectual knowledge, but in the depth, silence and peace of their own hearts. Dear and sweet Lord, in this new year filled with new distractions please help us to choose Your Peace over the chaos.

Your peace you have freely given, but in our helplessness we still haven’t chosen it. Please take our hands and lead us to choose Your Peace!

Let them be holy

I started praying a new prayer for my girls a few months ago.

Dear Lord, please let them be holy. Protect them from my sins, vices and falls and guide them home with Your Holy Light keeping them pure and white and making them holy.

Guess what, since beginning this prayer He is changing me again! I have fallen in love with Our Blessed Mother, Saint Mary. I was drawn to a book about her and now I long to pray to her, I look to her as a guide, a mentor and as the perfect example of mothering.

I didn’t tie these two events together at first, but as I think more about it I believe they are connected. How could I, a person loaded down with baggage filled with selfishness, greed, unkindness, and sin ever hope to raise children who are holy?!?! Alone in my greed, selfishness, and ever growing pile of wrong doings, it would not be possible, but with God leading the way anything is possible.

Thank You My Love for opening my eyes once more to one of Your Own Beloved, Your Queen, who so desperately wants to show us the Way, Your Way, Yahweh.

Wake up!

God really wanted me to wake up this morning. I first woke up at 5:40 am and thought to myself, I should get up and read the Bible or my devotional, but I felt too tired so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 6:03 am and again rolled over to go back to sleep. Finally at 6:10 am, I had to get up because the alarm in the girls bedroom went off and was blasting NPR all over the house. I took this as a sign that God was not taking “No” for an answer this morning Thankfully none of the girls woke up… I’m not sure how they slept through it, but they did!

I think what I took from all of this was a reminder not to get swept away by the wrong things this Christmas. The last few days have been a little hectic as I have been preparing for Christmas, sending cards, shopping, cooking, wrapping, cleaning, etc. I haven’t found much time to sit in peace and quiet and just listen.

I want to listen during this Holy time. I want to sit in peace and think of our Savior, His Mother, His earthly Father and His Holy Birth. I want to be moved to depths of my soul as I reflect on Him.

Thank you my Loving and Heavenly Father for nudging me awake this morning. Please help me to keep You always in my sight and to stay awake!

Listen carefully my friends, He might be trying to wake you up too!

His words are enough!

A friend recently read a book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I have had the documentary, Bonhoeffer, in my Netflix queue for quite some time and our discussion gave me the incentive to finally watch it. I really liked it and am very interested in reading more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

A student of his spoke in the documentary and discussed how his teaching was so drastically different than anything she had ever experienced up to that point in her life. He taught her to read The Bible as if God was speaking directly to her. I love this!

This is just another reminder to me that I need to read The Bible. I can and should critically listen to others, their thoughts and interpretations, but in the end I need to read The Bible. I need to give God the opportunity to speak directly to me.

God, thank you so much for Your Word, for blessing me with a Bible of my own and giving me the ability to read. Please motivate me everyday to read, study, and reflect on Your Holy Words.