Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
EMBRACING FAMILY
Many parents ask us questions, and we share faith-based parenting advice, based on Love and Logic © and the Preventive System of St. John Bosco (Reason, Religion, Loving Kindness). We’d like to share some of these with you.
In case you’re wondering, this has nothing to do with our black garbage bin or blue recycle bin. Instead, this has everything to do with our everyday challenges.
Does a struggle we are facing involve vice or sin? Is it one that is wearing down on our body, mind, and/or spirit? If so, throw it in the TRASH! Ask God’s help to throw it away. It could be that we may need support to do so (therapy, spiritual direction, support from family or friends).
“For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
Is our struggle one that will lead to a greater good, one from which we can grow? If so, RECYCLE! Bring this struggle to God and ask him to help us re-purpose it, not just for our own growth, but for the good of others as well.
Whatever our struggles are, bring them to prayer. Ask God to help us discern whether the struggle we are facing is trash or recyclable.
Trash: Confession is one way we can certainly throw away the trash of vice and sin. Let’s check the parish bulletin for confession times and vicariate penance services. Not many people choose to hang on to their garbage for rather apparent reasons. Now is the time to get rid of our trash, and we must continue to do so regularly.
Recycle: Innumerable things are made from recyclable items. Some are practical items we use daily such as paper, while others are luxury items such as designer furniture. Regardless, what is most meaningful is that something that could have been deemed useless, irrelevant, or even trash was transformed into something useful for another.
Our struggles, with God’s help, can be repurposed, helping us become more faith-filled children of God, better spouses, better parents, better priests, deacons, brothers and sisters. Let’s not waste these opportunities, allowing them to be discarded. Instead, let’s bring them to God and ask him to help transform them — giving them new life, new meaning for us and others.
Then, as the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday) approaches, we can truly seek to discard sin from our lives and bring our challenges to the foot of the Cross, laying them at his feet, and trusting that amidst the suffering and pain, amidst the silence, the uncertainty, and the waiting, God will transform these struggles, and we will experience the Resurrection on Easter Sunday more profoundly than ever before.
Now, it’s time for our Trash or Recycle Homework!
- Discern whether our struggles are trash or recyclable.
- Stop for a moment and schedule our next “trash” pickup by finding out when our parish offers confession. Put it on the family calendar.
- Make a list of struggles that we would like to ask God’s help such that they can be recycled and repurposed in a life-giving way — for us and others. Lift these intentions up in prayer.
- Be prepared to repeat this process as often as necessary throughout our lives!
- Happy Lenten discernment regarding whether our challenges are trash or recyclable! It would certainly make a fun dinner conversation with family and friends.
We can’t wait to hear how your conversations unfolded.
Here is some feedback from a Hawaii Catholic Herald reader in response to our recent column “I’m OK, So Why Aren’t You?”
“I am so glad I saw the subtitle that said to read the article before Valentine’s Day! It’s so easy to get caught up with candy and cards while foregoing things that make much more of a difference: listening to others and spending quality time with them! Not only were my wife and kids happier, but we saved money, too!”
Questions? Please email Sarah and David at Success@EmbraceFamilyLearning.com. We would be honored to lift you up in prayer and respond, as well!
