Against My Will.

When the going gets tough...will you fall back toward that old self or standup and charge forward in a new and more perfect way? 

​I am facing the music on this rignt now while I write. The words, much less the reality of 5:30 a.m. and I, have not historically been written into the same sentences. We just don't do things together!

Seriously! How completely enticing to remain under the wraps and warm weight of covers snuggled against the soft body of my breastfed son sleeping peacefully in the early morning darkness. How intoxicating to smell his precious head and sink a little deeper into the pillow top mattress and claim again to God that, "I'll lay here and pray effectively and go to the depths with you Lord. I will." I enter into stillness and prayerfulness...for but a second...zzzzzz...zzzzzz...

Rise oh frail flesh! Rise and face the discomfort of the wintry morning floor. Feel the chill of the unheated room. Confront the teapot and bland herbs as you fast from delicacies. No coffee with homemade raw peppermint whipped cream for you...not yet.

I have set my alarm early to set my sights high. I will fast, watch and pray. The Lord is nigh. Will one more hour of sleep really benefit me more than one hour of prayer? I think I'll opt for prayer and rest with my littles later if I must. 

The night is now long spent. The Savior who is Christ the Lord is calling and coming. I await with wonder his virginal birth and Incarnation. I enter in with him in this moment looking with anticipation and readiness as to where he will be born. 

My early rising as an act of penitence allows me a chance to tidy the manger of my heart, rearrange the hay of over activity, quiet the animals of negativity and disbelief, dim the light of the flashy fake world and prepare a place appropriate for a lowly birth into what ought to become a lowly heart.

That God should incarnate as a man (a beautiful newborn boy no less!) is profound mystery!

That God should depart back to his relms and leave himself for consumption by humankind in the Eucharist is profound mystery.

That God should reside in the human heart and point us to our true north and that we should be magnatized by him is profound mystery.

What we are really watching and waiting for will be revealed in his Second and Most Glorious Coming! That is what we watch and wait for. That is what we long for. That is why I am verticle at this hour of the morning! 

WE HAVE TO KEEP OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE. 

We cannot let the world cloud over our hope. We cannot let it lift up his blanket of peace. We cannot get carried off by all the emptiness it offers at every turn.

The same applies to all of us in the face of faith, fitness, food and family.

Do you want it? Recommit! 
Do you want it? Reconnect!
Do you want it? Re-consecrate!

It's not easy, but right now we have a choice to gather up today's wasted moments (see them as such) and pull them together for a slot of prayer firstly, then exercise and nutrition.  Let us also concentrate on how we can spend ourseves for others in our family.

Free up time for formation, your formation! I will too!