On Sunday, I gave my first lesson as a catechist this year,
as I was sharing God as creator of the world, I mentioned that to me being
outdoors contemplating the beauty of nature always pushes away my anxiety. When I see the perfection of
things at work it’s easy for me to believe that my struggles are a piece of
cake for God. When I see the animals in
nature I am reminded that even though birds do not sow or reap they do not fall prey
to anxiety trusting that God will provide. Since God esteems us much, much more
than birds then we too must not waste energy worrying. After my lecture one of my students shared how
she has been super anxious because she is about to give birth to her fifth
child and she got notice that within two months she and her family must turn
the keys to her apartment. Her husband
is sole provider and his income is not high enough to qualify for an
apartment. Thus, she’s afraid that in a couple
of months she, her new baby and family will be homeless. In hearing that God provides, that He’s all
powerful and meditating further on the Sunday Gospel reading (that we need to let go of
things that keep us from God), she found solace knowing that she needed to offer
her worry to God.
The RCIA team was of course inspired by her openness to
share such personal details and feeling the desire to offer more than
affirmation, our fearless leader organized a surprise gift from both teachers
and students. We are all giving a small
monetary donation in addition to voluntary gifts for the baby. Since, this mommy is three weeks away from welcoming her baby and under so much stress I thought that she deserved a bouquet of
flowers, but thinking that the flowers would die within days I decided to get
crafty and create a bouquet of diapers!
I can’t wait to see her face on Sunday when we all surprise her with a
little bit of kindness (smile). Sometimes
we forget when we intercede for another person, that we are the vehicle through
which God can bless another person. I
know that I can be really good at saying a prayer for another person, but
prayer invites us to do more than just state the intention and leave it to
God. In prayer God inspires us to be
Jesus for that friend in need. My mom’s
favorite prayer is, “God place someone in my path that you wish me to help
today.” That is a really lovely prayer
because though God doesn’t need our assistance to answer our prayer intentions,
He loves to use us to do good.
Sometimes it’s not that clear as to what to do to help
another, but usually if we sit with God, He will inspire us on how to act. I bought a pack of Huggies initially thinking
that I would do a nappy cake, but then decided that a diaper flower bouquet would
be much more special because it goes with the talk about creation... You can also pray for the recipient as you create her gift.
The bouquet is really easy to make you just need: diapers, foam ball, vase, skewer wooden sticks, ribbon, tissue paper, invisible rubber bands
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