As I prepare my children for back to school, I am once again reminded of the cost of living – the cost of sending our children to a Catholic school, of clothing them, of providing them with the tools and materials they need for education. As I make preparations for my oldest daughter’s sixteenth birthday party, I reacquaint myself with the cost of “being cool”; as I schedule appointments for orthodontists, dentists, and sports physicals, I remember the cost of good health. As I sign my brood up for piano lessons and soccer teams, I stop and consider the cost of being “well-rounded”.

As my children grow older and start to pull away from me, I am reminded of the cost of Motherhood. I miss my toned tummy and six pack abs. I miss those pieces of my heart that are forever entwined with my children, those pieces that tug at my soul when they are away from me.

These things, – these costs – are fleeting. Bills come and go, money flows in and out. Children grow up, learn to drive, leave home. I do not regret the costs of living.

These costs are insignificant when compared to the price of living, the price paid by Jesus for our lives. That’s a price that hurts in the remembering. That’s a price that we must strive to repay by living His example in turn.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be love, not hate; good, not evil; service, not self-centeredness; in order that I will not regret the price that He paid for it.

From the Roses-from-Heaven Blogspot Archives:

Litany to Sanctify Work

From the temptation to be listless and lazy: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to complain: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to be critical of my boss: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to cheat or to be dishonest with others: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to gossip: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to lateness: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to waste time: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to be judgmental of my co-workers: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to procrastinate: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to be jealous or envious of others: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to indolence and lethargy: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to be hypercritical: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to engage in idle conversation: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to be quick to take offense: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to shift my work onto others: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to impatience: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to cut corners or to be sloppy: Lord, protect me.
From the temptation to give in to weariness: Lord, protect me.

For the grace to be a peacemaker: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to witness to you by word and example: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be energetic and committed: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be compassionate and forgiving: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to offer up all tedium and drudgery: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be attentive to those in need: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be generous in sharing: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be prudent in dealing with others: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be kind: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be understanding: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to fulfill my responsibilities well: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be patient and persevering: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to put myself in others’ shoes: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be dedicated and undistracted: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be honest and forthright: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be hard-working: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be free of stress: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace of insight to solve problems: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace of industriousness: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to resolve conflicts and difficulties: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to put up with hardships: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to esteem the dignity of my co-workers: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to be thankful for the chance to work: Lord, please grant it.
For the grace to spread the good news of the Gospel: Lord, please grant it.

Our Father…

Prayer After Work

Most merciful Father, thank you for this day of work with all its achievements as well as its burdens. Thank you for all the successes, the challenges, and even the difficulties that it brought me. Your Son once said to his apostles, “Come by yourselves to an out of the way place and rest a little.” Thank you for this gift of rest. May this time be a chance for me to renew my gratitude for all your blessings. In your great compassion and generosity, please be mindful of those who are out of work. And help me to do a better job tomorrow. I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I have this nifty magnet on my fridge. It has a tiny blue light that flashes when the cartridge in water filter in the garage needs to be changed. This incredibly cool piece of technology came my way last summer, when the bottom rusted out of the water heater and flooded the garage, the softener gasped it’s last breath and the house filter expired – all in the same week. The new system we purchased and installed had all these bells and whistles that weren’t available when we built our house seventeen years ago.

The reason the little blue light is so cool is that I no longer have to go out into the garage, move the bicycles, skateboards and other kid paraphernalia, climb over the little bench that my husband built when he was a kid and now keeps for sentimentality and then try to peek behind the softener while aiming a flashlight in the general direction of the filter casing to see if it needs changed. The blue light lets me know that it’s time. Being the reasonably intelligent person that I am, I really don’t think there is some sort of psychic connection between the dirty filter and the flashing blue light on my fridge; I understand that it is simply a timer and the little blue light is the alarm. Wouldn’t it be neat, though if there were some kind of connection?

Better still, wouldn’t it be amazing if I had a little blue light, say, on my forehead that was connected to my soul? It could blink at me when I need my spiritual filter changed. It could remind me when I need confession, when I need to pray for myself as well as others, when I need to stop my day to day litany of “do this! do that!” and simply let God be. Best yet, this little light would save me the anguish of having to climb over and around the garage-like clutter of my sinful behavior, and let me get right to the point of changing my spiritual filter and recharging my soul.

Of course, a flashing blue light embedded in my forehead would be an odd fashion statement.