Butterfly Effect

I want to touch upon something I spoke of in my previous post, "Growing Pains."  So often we experience hardships as a negative, something to look down upon.  However, it is in our afflictions that we find out just how strong we actually are.  For it is in them that we are able to overcome our biggest difficulty: our "self."  We never really know what we are capable of until our capabilities are put to the test. And as the great ring leader points out, "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph."

Valiantly striving to overcome our personal difficulties will have have a transforming effect on our lives, and perhaps the lives of those around us.  With God's grace, the biggest hardships in life can become the butterfly effect we need to catapult us towards a lifetime of positive growth and change.

However, just like Will in the movie shown above, God can not make us do anything.  He will always give us the love, grace, healing, forgiveness, guidance and support we need, and will never turn his back to us. However, He always defaults to our free will, putting the ball in our court.  It is we who need to make that leap of faith, utilizing the grace that has been freely given.  We can't always wait for perfect timing, sometimes we just have to dare to jump in, losing sight of the shore, focusing on the unchartered possibilities in front of us.  As one of my confessors, Fr. Dominic Scotto once told me, "we may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future." No matter what your circumstances are, always remember, "you are MAGNIFICENT!"

Growing Pains

While praying in the chapel after mass, I was contemplating life, and how it is filled with various sufferings and challenges.  Suffering can be thrust upon us from the outside world, or can be brought about through our own doing.  At times we can become so accustomed to our current state, however miserable it may be.  Very often we decide to stay put, fearing change and the great unknown.  But nothing good ever comes from this.  Sure, God's grace can work wonders, even in these stagnant moments of our lives, but how much more when we put that grace into action!

I had an image of a bone in ones body, growing to full maturation.  Many kids will complain of "growing pains" during adolescence  wishing they could be taken away.  But look at the fruits that come from their temporary pain!  They grow into strong, healthy adults, capable of many more things than when they were their smaller selves.  But like most good things, it comes in time.  As Jean Royer points out:

"God waits patiently for me to wake up, grow up, come to the awareness that great works take time, that nothing truly worthwhile can be rushed... How difficult it is not to interfere, to try to take over, to go it alone.  But God cannot succeed without me.  God needs my whole-hearted cooperation in this work."

I imagine myself, and my relationship with God, in a very similar manner.  I could choose to stay where I am at spiritually and emotionally, because it is comfortable and familiar.  However, even this choice, as "easy" and "comfortable" as it looks, would bring about a certain amount of suffering; the pain of stagnation.  Or, I could choose to endure the difficulties of change, and face the great unknown.  It is true that I may fall occasionally along the path, but I know that the Great Physician will always be there to mend my broken bones.  And as my mom reminded me, when bones rebuild, they become stronger.  #chapelthoughts #theYOLOdiaries #crossingtheJordan