Ah, an excellent reminder. Gentle enough to compel me, but brief enough to give me the kick in the soul I’ve needed.
Lately I’ve made it my mission to avoid idleness online; a vice to which I’m pretty easily prone. It’s like my mind goes on auto-pilot: “Oh, the boys are playing – I’ll check Facebook,” or sometimes oftentimes I’ll hop on Pinterest to satisfy the itch for creativity without actually spending dollars of expending energy. Without excessively waxing, let’s just say that it happens all the time and to be honest, I don’t want to spend my life seated at a desk, sending a Facebook message to someone when I could actually be talking to them face to face or over the phone. Am I addicted in some way? Yes, I think so; I recently heard that the definition of addiction is repeatedly return to something to change the way you feel inside (rather than assuming the responsibility of how you feel). If I feel strapped for cash, bored, and tired, well…Pinterest could take away all three for a time, couldn’t it?? If I feel out of touch with people around me, then Facebook is an attempt at regaining communication.
{Side Note: I confess that I don’t deny my appetite to keep track of our finances, especially because we neglected them for so long; and that as of this month, we’re officially working with Gazelle Intensity toward paying off any/all debt and should be officially DEBT FREE in May. Well, that’s the plan anyway; my dad says that “plans are things from which to deviate,” so we’ll see!}
I’m rambling.
The point is that I saw this meme and re-encountered the truth of salvation through vocation.It’s through cheerfully serving Andrew, being an attentive and sweet mother to our boys, and expressing charity toward others that I will develop virtues and, ultimately, be blessed with heaven. As goes the line Les Miserables, “To love another person is to see the face of God,” which applies both immediately and within the context of the Beatific Vision.
Of course, all of this is on an eternal level. Considering the idea (Paradise via the daily grind) in light of temporal understanding works just as well 🙂 If I keep to my tasks and get things done around the house, on my To Do List, for my family, for my soul, etc., then I’m just plain happier than when I bum around doing things here and there and indulging in Facebook stalking; which is why my habitual idleness on my computer never lends itself to that sense of grateful satisfaction that I get when I present a tidy house, prepped dinner, and dressed kids (and wife) to Andrew when he comes home. A welcoming home is a happier home and the happier the home, the more relaxed and comforting it is to all within.
Dearest St. Gianna Molla, fellow soul called to the tasks of marriage and parenthood, pray for us!
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If you didn’t notice the logo smack-dab in the middle of the graphic, it comes from catholictothemax.com, which is a pretty fun site I found yesterday.
I totally turn to FB when bored, etc.Yikes!