Ashlinn (10) climbed into bed with me this morning, spread her long hair across the pillow, her father had abandoned to go to work earlier, and spoke. "Mommm.....?" There I knew that the Holy Spirit was soon to be invoked.
She spoke of her frustration at her friend, from across the road, who seemed to be trying to outdo her, who worked at being "better", who spoke "meanly" to her quite frequently and now, to add insult to injury, who has convinced her father to buy her a new "Bionicle" each month. This Lego type toy is one that Ashlinn loves.... and why wouldn't we promise to buy Ashlinn the same...."They're not that expensive and I really, really, really want them and it's not fair that she (the friend) gets everything she wants just by asking!!!" I replied that it is true, life seems to be very unfair most of the time, but we have to try to see it with heaven's eyes.
I asked her to think of the big picture, and put index finger and thumb together to gauge the size of the Bionicles, and with the other hand drew the distance out of 5, 10, 20, 60 years from now. "Where will you be in 5 years from now." I asked and she replied that she would be doing her high school work and thinking about going on to be a vet, and that in 60 to 80 years from now that she would be in heaven. The relative size of the Bionicles was getting smaller. But she was still frustrated and groaned and slapped the bed. "But I still want them!!"
This is where the Holy Spirit came in. I told her that as human beings we are made up of body and soul, and it is easy to hear the body part of ourselves, "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty or tired or cold." The soul part of ourselves, the life of God within us, is harder to hear. It too can starve, that is why we pray, read the Bible and other holy books and go to Church and receive the sacraments, so that we can live and grow in holiness so that we can go to heaven. "So," she asked is, "my friend starving?" The friend and family go to a bible church, so I explained that the Catholic Church, like a basket, contained all the elements of salvation, and other churches were like smaller baskets and had only some of the elements needed. She got it.
I returned to the big picture and told her that all the little things she does to help out around the house or her siblings, all of these things are building treasures in heaven, and they are much bigger and more important than bionicles...and by praying more she can quiet the "shouts" of her body that "want, want want" and then will learn to hear better the whisperings of her soul, and its' longing for heaven. "I'm luckier than her, eh, Mom?" She slipped of the bed and padded to the door peacefully, "Love you." and was gone, off on her day. And I lay back and praised God for my beautiful children and the grace that He allows me.
Thank you, Lord.
1 comment:
Wow... you are good. I would have called the girl across the street a brat and told my kids the ding-dong story. You see, I have a theory, much like your bionicle theory but not as eloquent. My kids used to complain that the neighbors always had ding-dongs and we NEVER have such treats. I turned to them and said, "Well, what do you want? Should I buy ding-dongs at an alarming rate so that you can keep up with snotty kids or do you want me to save money for your college funds and you can grow to be independent and successful adults?" Basically, if you eat ding-dongs you can't afford college, and then where will you be?
Like I said, not so eloquent, and I am not sure the HS would like me calling the little neighbors snots, or even implying that they will not go to college because their parents live in the "now" instead of the future... but whatever.
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