Coraggio!

Oh my friends, what is the meaning of "courage"?

Do we define it as "fortitude"? Does that not imply some form of enduring or surviving, rather than something proactive?

Do we define it as "bravery?" Does that not imply a strong will and a strong person, but also sometimes a brashness or lack of wisdom?

Perhaps we should use "valor," as it includes implications of honor and loyalty, which would also imply a wise application of bravery and fortitude.

But then we all know that some of the most courageous things we've ever done are the most sacrificial, and also the most humble. We all know that it is more courageous to keep our mouths shut and be ignored in the appropriate situation than it is for us to shine as the hero from time to time. We all know that it is more courageous to give someone else the victory, even in the little things, than it is for us to make a public outcry against some injustice. It is harder and more demanding to allow someone else to be given the praise that is justly due to oneself than it is to post pictures or banners about a religious or political belief.

So courage must have to do more with sacrifice and less with bravado. In fact, it is often mercy that is the most courageous of our actions, even more than the humility. Forgiving someone who really does not deserve the forgiveness, at least according to human standards, is often the most challenging act of kenosis.

Blessed Pope John Paul II was well known for a simple phrase, often spoken to youth and young adults - "Be not afraid! Corragio!"

This would also link courage to fear. If courage is not-being-afraid, that would lead to sacrifice, humility and mercy as being the remedies for fear. This, I believe, is precisely what courage truly is. A remedy for fear, in the actions of love and forgiveness. This is precisely centered in the fact that the love and forgiveness we have received from the Father, and that we continue to receive, is not merited or deserved. We are participants in a divine wisdom, a divine justice, that does not determine faults as humans do, but in a generous mercy that seems without limit. As we have received this form of compassion and acceptance, our courage is to take the same up in our daily interactions with all we meet.

We all know this is a daunting task. Specifically, this comes to mind as I prepare for the Sacrament of Matrimony! I am going to vow before God and man that I will love, honor and obey one man whom I love until death parts us. (And I am SO thrilled to do that!) When we take time to ponder on how dramatic this is, it is easy to see where fear might come into play. We are sinful. We all know that our selfishness, pride, vanity, impatience, hard heartedness, misunderstanding, etc.. can lead to us injuring those we love and failing to give them the love and mercy that we should give them.

This is why we need courage! To combat the fear of human sinfulness with the truth of divine mercy! God has given us the remedy for our faults, and that is Christ and his Church. That is our participation in the Sacraments. It is before the Eucharist that we come to know what true courage is! What is more indicative of "corragio" than the welcoming we receive from God into his Church and the even more extreme gift of the very Body and Blood of Christ to the unworthy person! Of course, we strive to repent, to convert, and to live Christian lives. Yet, we are never truly worthy, not of our own accord! The Holy Spirit prepares us, and we enter into the Paschal Mystery by the grace of God.

So it is with courage. If we are to live this virtue, this habit, this lifestyle, we must first ask the Holy Spirit to ignite our hearts. We need new eyes to allow us to see with God's justice. We need new hearts to be able to suffer with and be merciful to all we meet, even those who offend us and hate us.

John Paul II called us to "corragio!" because he wanted to echo the great element of the universal call to holiness that every Christian experiences by his Baptism - humility, sacrifice and mercy. Be like the Son. Be unafraid of sin and evil, even when it threatens your very life. God's love, God's mercy, God himself is always greater, always stronger, and always the most powerful. Nothing is outside of his tender Heart. We must remain there, and learn from him the meaning of true courage.

Love is an Onion

Sometimes, at the end of the day, I feel like I can only write about one thing: love.

At first that rings "cliche" in my head, and I almost want to avoid it. Almost.

But then I think to myself... there's a reason every one of those cliches has been promulgated and spread over time and space till nearly everyone rolls their eyes when they hear them! "Love makes the world go 'round." "Love lifts us up where we belong." "All you need is love." (I'm trying not to quote all of Moulin Rougue here.) "Everybody loves somebody." Etc... These happen to be steeped in truth. Steeped is not the right word...they are indicative of truth because they are inherently truthful. Love animates.

Now, I'm not ready to go into a philosophical divulgence of the active nature of love, both because you have Aristotle and Aquinas as the experts on that, and because I have another point.

My thoughts have more to do with love as our origin and end. More than that, even! Love as our existence, as our being. While I could go into the philosophic/metaphysical elements here, I really want to keep this simple. It is experiential.

Consider this: pause, and think back upon your day. Think of the times you were loved. Perhaps you had little grubby hands holding onto your legs, asking you for cookies or to be picked up. Perhaps you had a husband draw you close and tell you how thankful he is for you. Perhaps you had a phone call from your dad to thank you for Father's Day cards and to remind you that you've always been his favorite. Perhaps you had smiles from coworkers, and sincere questions of "did you have a nice weekend?" Perhaps you had someone on the road allow you to get into their lane with graciousness. Perhaps you sat next to a sweet lady on the metro who happened to be from your home town. Perhaps you didn't see one single soul today, but you did read the Bible. And you looked outside and saw beauty. And you knew that the Lord's words were true - that they are true. You were reassured that every hair on your head had been counted, and that you were worth more than all the flowers in the field.

This is the point. Love, as splendid and magnificent and beautiful and seductive and powerful and passionate and all-encompassing as it can be, is none the less also habitual, and daily, and almost mundane. It is how we live. We do not walk around looking at any one said person and will that we love them. We do not think to ourselves, "and now I will love this child of mine by feeding him." We just do.

As much as this is a universal truth for humanity, there are many of us who have known very broken experiences of this daily-love, this living-love. Some of us have lost a lot of our trust in love of that nature. Even more so because we hear and see and read about these more common experiences of daily-love, and we find that we do not share in those experiences. Perhaps our parent was not loving. Perhaps our spouse has deeply wounded us. Perhaps our children have rejected us. Perhaps we are very alone, and do not know how to enter into these so called right-relationships. Perhaps we have not had the opportunity to practice this daily-love because we do not have anyone to give to.

This is why the Lord's words are where we must begin and where we must end. The philosophers will tell us that he is the unmoved mover, and the first cause. They say that his essence and his existence are one in the same - that he is constant act. They tell us that this act is love, and that the Holy Trinity is this beautiful ongoing donation of self, love and surrender. He holds all things in being. His Word is effective, and living.

This is why I do not find it surprising when every time my heart stirs and my mind seems to be enlightened, I end up writing about the one thing that I cannot escape... that by which I live and move and have my being.

This is so imperative for us to recognize though, because it is in knowing that we being to see more clearly just how completely sustained we are by His love. And another cliche says, "you cannot give what you don't have." We need to be sensitive to what we are experiencing, to what we are receiving. Our awareness of the gift that we are constantly being given will be the fuel that fans our own fire of love! The zeal we need to give of ourselves in patience, goodness, understanding and compassion, mercy and forgiveness... this flows through us when we stand at the foot of the Cross and receive the love that flows out from Him.

What can we say about love? It is. It is the most real thing that we can encounter, even while it is also the most mysterious. It can turn a world upside down. It can stop suffering, heal hearts, end wars, rebuild broken homes, rebuild broken relationships, it can give new life to the dead of heart. When we speak of love, we speak of a way of being, of how we live, or how we ought to live. We speak of a gift, both received and given. We speak of a gift that continues to unfold, that continues to unveil. I once heard a very sweet Polish professor say that the love he found between him and his wife was like an onion... it had many layers, and as they peeled them away over the years, they found that the strongest and most potent elements were buried deeper in, and required the time and the peeling away to come to. That is our lives. We come to know love as we live love. Let us not take that for granted, but ask that our hearts and minds be ever more aware of what is around us. The opportunities to experience love by demonstrating love are all around, and are ever more needed.

To end on a "cliche" if you can ever refer to Scripture in that way - John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."

A little pondering over beauty...

I was looking out the window today at Mass when I was struck by how beautiful the pine trees were. They are so unique! The detail that goes into each branch, and the shape of the whole tree; the color and the texture; the way the tree branches move in the breeze...

Now, some have said I'm a bit of a hippie in spirit. Maybe. I think I grew up loving National Geographic and Discovery Channel, and I have a tendency to appreciate nature's beauty.

This, however, began to be contrasted in my head as I looked around me at those who were present at Mass. Why is it that I can find myself so captivated by something as simple as a tree, and yet I do not find my heart struck by the beauty of people?

So then I began to try to look around me with a more "general" or "objective" lens. I considered how God's design was so marvelous - how each face was so unique, so different, how there were so many colors of hair, colors of eyes, shapes of noses, jawlines, etc... Certainly I am more or less disposed to find any individual face beautiful because of my subjective knowledge of the person, and my own affinity for certain features. Yet, not to discredit objective and subjective beauty, the overarching experience of recognizing that the minute variances of snowflakes are fascinating and stirring in the soul should also lead me to acknowledging that the even more intricate details of the human person are stunning.

Clearly we all live in a world and culture that has its own definition of what is a beautiful person, as have many ages before us. However, just as our ancestors hopefully reminded themselves from time to time, we must keep in mind that fashion or no fashion, the human person has an innate beauty that comes simply in his or her personhood. It may be reasonable that we have to try a little harder to see the beauty in one person over another, but that does not discredit the beauty that we should conceive of in everyone we meet, even in some small extent.

However, this isn't meant to oversimplify. Certainly, it is easier to see the glory in the snowflakes and the trees in that they are innocent. We know that people carry moral responsibility, and our sin and actions and attitudes can greatly affect how we are perceived.

I feel that this is a two-fold challenge.
First, to remember who it is that has given life to each person that we encounter. It is God, a loving Father who calls us into being. The book of Wisdom says,

"But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;

and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.

For you love all things that are

and loathe nothing that you have made;

for you would not fashion what you  hate.

How could a thing remain, unless you willed it;

or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?

But you spare all things, because they are yours,

O Ruler and Lover of souls."

(Wis. 11:23-26)

Second, to recall that we are all sinners, and all carry the weight of sin in our lives. If we are to understand the love of God, we are called to seek to see with his vision. We have an invitation to see first with mercy, and then with justice, as our human justice always falls short of God's infinite mercy. 

We ought to strive each day to awaken our hearts and souls, to become more sensitive to the glory of God around us! This world can be full of business and busyness, buildings and cars and errands and deadlines, and leave us with little time to reflect. We need to allow ourselves to see, so that we might find how natural it is to praise God for all he has done. Further, it is so much easier to place our trust in the Lord when we consider how truly powerful he is, and are convicted of his great love for us. 

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to be with us always, and to lead us into all Truth.

Bowl-A-Thon Abortion

I was made aware of an article in CNS News concerning an organization who raised a large sum of money ($400,000) to pay for abortions for women in need. The article was highlighting the story of one 14-year-old girl who said that, “Getting my abortion means I'm going to get a second chance. And I want to make it count.”

I felt absolutely compelled to write a letter to the organization, even if they simply delete my email.
Below you will find a link to the organization as well as the link to the article from CNS.
PLEASE feel free to copy the letter below, edit as you see fit, and send it to them.

This is their email address: info@fundabortionnow.org

Dear members of the National Network of Abortion Funds,

I want to express my extreme distress at seeing your cause touted across the news.

I am heartbroken and disgusted that you would proudly proclaim that you are helping mothers to kill their babies.

I beg you to reconsider your position and your work. There are many other options for mothers who are unprepared for pregnancy. Allowing a baby to be born and adopted by a family who is desperate for a child to care for gives that baby the life it already possesses and deserves to live out, and it gives the mother the opportunity to heal in a unique way from the stress and struggle she is facing without lasting painful repercussions that come with the trauma of abortion.

No mother can anticipate the psychological, emotional, physical and spiritual effects that an abortion will have on her, but there are so many studies that reveal the hurt and long-term pain that killing a child causes. Why not help spare these mothers from this and also spare their children from death?

These are some links to further information that should be shared with any mother who is unprepared for a baby. 

• Hope After Abortion website - http://hopeafterabortion.com/
• Adverse Psychological Reactions - http://hopeafterabortion.com/?page_id=213
  
• Suicide and Abortion - http://hopeafterabortion.com/?page_id=223
  
• How a Baby Develops - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXRbV33J5qk
  
• Fetal Development Week by Week - http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-week-by-week
  
• Adoption: Choosing It, Living It, Loving it - http://foryourmarriage.org/adoption-choosing-it-living-it-loving-it/
  
• Catholic Charities, Adoption - http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/page.aspx?pid=1670
  

• Mental Health Risks and Abortion,by Kimberly Baker, Life Issues Forum, February 4, 2011
• Project Rachel: In the Heart of the Church, USCCB, 2007 (En Español)
• Reclaiming Fatherhood, Life Insight, September/October 2007
• Abortion Aftermath: "An Antiabortion Shibboleth?", Life Insight, March/April 2007
• The New York Times Won't See Their Pain, by Susan Wills, February 27, 2007
• Divine Mercy in My Soul, by Theresa Bonopartis, 2000 (En Español)
• Touched by the Truth, Life Insight, November/December 2000
• Bizarre Reactions to Jubilee Post-Abortion Outreach, Life Insight, April/May 2000
• Healing Happens, Life Insight, March 2000
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse After Abortion, Life Insight, March 2000
• After the Abortion, by Sister Paula Vandegaer, LCSW, 1999 (En Español)
• A Special Word to Women Who Have Had An Abortion, by E. Joanne Angelo, M.D., 1997

Please consider that there are much better options than death for the child.

Sincerely in Christ,

Alissa Gotta

That Nagging Feeling...

We all know it... that feeling like we are about to get squashed like a bug.
Yes, we are sure, there is an imaginary giant whose foot is positioned right above our heads.
Sure, some call him "deadline." Others call him "meeting." We just know, time is ticking before we're flattened.

Stress is a killer... if you grew up watching Anastasia, you'll probably never forget Bartok's clarification on that point.

Whether it is a deadline for work, or a paper, or a project, or even just starting your research for a paper or project, or getting the emails and conversations going that are necessary for your work to get done... these things can loom over you and haunt you. Moreover, not only are we subject to these forms of stress, but we have to add all those nice other daily anxieties that come in the form of not-dying-on-the-way-to-work, remembering-to-eat-during-the-day, putting-gas-in-the-car, cleaning-clothes-so-you-can-wear-clothes, buying-groceries-so-you-can-eat, etc... Then, if you are Christian or someone who takes time to mull over the interior life and your state of charity at any given point (which is probably fluctuating based on the stupidity and inconvenience of those around you), you can add that nice level of self-awareness that constantly rings in the back of your mind, "you aren't really trying very hard to be good."

Right.

At this stage, why don't we just throw in the towel? Are we getting things accomplished? Barely. Are we doing them well? That clearly depends on your definition... and then we wake up realizing that we have to relativize everything, including our work, because we live in a society that won't give up parameters (other than hired/verbal abuse/fired).

So, is it really any surprise when we take time to pray or sit in Mass and find ourselves analyzing our productivity from the past day/week, or drawing up our next task list, or recalling those six "little items of business" we keep putting off because we don't get home before the post office, hair places, banks, etc.. close (because clearly, 9-5 works for everyone)? But hey, let's add some anxiety and guilt into the mix for not praying well, or not paying attention.

Good.

Now we feel... well, at least, I feel completely overwhelmed. How they heck are we supposed to "do this" ("this" would mean life)? It was one thing growing up with the pressure of "getting As and Bs"... maybe we had the added pressure of preforming well in sports... but really, did anyone prep us for paying bills on a cell phone on the way to a meeting? Nope!

So, turns out, I was at Mass recently and the priest gave a homily on trust. I have a feeling it was coupled with one of our recent accounts of the Apostles right after the Resurrection. There they were, just trying to get some fish for dinner, and Jesus (now Risen), turns up to show them not only that he is alive (alleluia!), but that he is hungry. That's a real man for you.

So, my thoughts move very quickly from trust to faith.

Faith.

What on earth do we really mean when we talk about faith, may I ask?
Or should I say, what in Heaven do we mean?

Of course, we can quote "faith the size of a mustard seed," and all of those lovely verses of Scripture that are catch phrases for people who are trying to get you to do something. But there is a whole lot more involved. There is a whole lot more at stake.

Consider, where does faith begin?

Is it something in man? Do we create faith by professing a belief? Do I have faith because I say, "I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord"?

Does faith come to us? Is it a gift? The Apostles dramatically exclaim in Luke 17, "Lord, increase our faith!" This is after Jesus talks about temptation to sin. So clearly, the Apostles understand faith as something that is given to them, and they understand its gravity in relation to sin and death.

Have patience because I think this account is so applicable (Mark 9:14-29):

When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. Immediately on seeing him, the whole crowd was utterly amazed. They ran up to him and greeted him.

He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”

Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit. Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.”

He said to them in reply, “O faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him to me.”

They brought the boy to him. And when he saw him, the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions. As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around and foam at the mouth.

Then he questioned his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

He replied, “Since childhood. It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus said to him, “‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”

Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”

Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again!”

Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out. He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, “He is dead!”

But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”

Now, there are many elements in this that are worthy of reflection, but let us consider just two.
First, the prayer of the man in response to Christ's statement, "Everything is possible to one who has faith."
He says, "I do believe, help my unbelief!"

To me, this is powerful. Faith is understood here as something that can be increased, that can come in greater abundance. Clearly Christ also implied that when he discussed faith as a mustard seed, which is so small.

Secondly, Jesus tells the disciples that prayer is vital in relation to evil, or the enemy. This is an important interplay with faith, because it seems to me that the man's cry is certainly a prayer "help my unbelief!"

I see these as directly related; we call upon the Lord, we cry out and request that we are given the gift of faith, and this is because we are instructed that through faith, everything is possible.

Simple enough is the Catechism's instruction on faith: "By his Revelation, 'the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company.' The adequate response to this invitation is faith" (CCC, 142). 

Faith is the adequate response to the invitation. So no, not a reply card indicating that you will be attending. Not a thank you card asserting that you received the call. No, it is an entrustment. It requires an assertion of the reception that includes an implicit and explicit giving-back. So it requires our action. Yet, it hinges on the gift. 

Catechism paragraph 143 states, "By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, 'the obedience of faith.'"

Aha! So, faith is a response, and obedience (or active trusting), and a gift. Hm. 

Last Catechism reference - paragraph 153: "When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come 'from flesh and blood', but from 'my Father who is in heaven'.  Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. 'Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"

This paragraph is followed by a section that is called "Faith is a Human Act," just to clarify the both-and element. 

However, there is something elementary to be gleaned here. 

How much, I beg you to consider, of our day-in-day-out insanity do we infuse with the above?

How much of our craziness is surrendered? How much is placed in obedience? How much do we look at with the eyes of trust in God?

For those discerning a next step, be that a job, a living situation, a vocation (marriage, religious life, ordination), etc...this is an especially pertinent question. 

Faith, being a gift, is something to be asked for. Ask for it! 

But simultaneously, as you ask for you, you must believe it! You must believe that faith will increase, and you must believe in the One of whom you are asking the grace.

This is where I think we all lose sight of the foundations that hold faith in place. That, in case there is any question, would be God, the Holy Trinity, especially revealed by Christ. Yes, we have to recall that it is the One who created us that is the One whom we now go before with our lives.

The funny thing is, I know for myself and many whom I love, we forget a few important points. 
We forget:
a) That God is good. That is, um, how do we say it... absolutely necessary if we have any hope in actually having faith in him. Yes?
b) That God loves us. I will comment below.
c) That God intended us. This means that he created us purposefully, freely, and in love. I mean really, think about that one. You are not (no matter how you were conceived, because let's be honest, there are many variables in the circumstances) a random person. You are not someone who just happened to be a spark of life in the universe. If you believe that, I could understand not having a lot of faith, or hope. 
d) That God always has a plan, and that we are part of it. Again, tough to really grasp, but there is a "cosmic" plan, at least as far as God has revealed in and through Salvation History (Sacred Scripture and Tradition culminating in the revelation of Christ that God "so loved the world" etc...), and there is our personal plan. This is where I think people get tripped up. It's not predestination (other than the element of the invitation to live with him forever through the Sacraments, the Church, the life of holiness, etc...) and it's not something that we often notice or can see. 

However, not only do we need to be reminded of these important truths, but we need to accept them and integrate them. If we really believed that God has a plan for us that bears both joy and sorrow, but will inevitably lead us to Heaven if we consistently strive to be converted and to live as he has asked us to, in charity and truth, than... wouldn't that alleviate some of this crazy stress?

Please don't misunderstand me. Not an advocate for the non-active lifestyle. Passive gets you nowhere except places you don't want to be. No, God gives us gifts (along with faith) that we are called to use (precisely along with our faith) for the good of the Church, others and ourselves. So active. But active-in-trust. Active-in-faith.

Best example that comes to mind, besides Christ, of course, is Our Lady. The woman was not seemingly "doing" a whole lot to get herself noticed or to be someone of any "greatness" as far as the world was concerned. However, her faith was so absolutely permeating her life and her person, that it allowed for the Son of God to be Incarnate in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit! Now, I know she had an exceptional grace, being literally full of grace because of her sinlessness (from conception), but that doesn't mean that we cannot understand her life as a fundamental model for how we allow the gift of faith to live within us and to bear life in our world. 

We don't exactly see "miracles" happening everyday, although the number of people who continue to be canonized makes it hard not to acknowledge that miraculous healings are still happening, but even beyond that...we really ought to ponder on Christ's words in the passage from Mark, "O faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?"

I know this is a weak analogy, but think about how you feel when you know precisely how to fix something, but the stubborn person(s) who is working on the project will not allow you to help or give any instruction. Even when you do give advice, they have their ears turned off. Typically, they sense that you probably can fix it. But they are determined to do it themselves. And you have to let them. Whether they learn a lesson or get no where, you can't step on their toes and make them do as you wish (although I know we all wish sometimes that we had the power to just make them do as we wish). 

But consider that in relation to Christ's cry! He wants to heal us! He desires that we have the openness of heart, the willingness of spirit, to be taught by him, to learn from him! "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves" (Matthew 11:29). It's so easy! But not when we are proud (which we so are!). Not when we don't want to be taught, don't want to be criticized, don't want to suffer rebukes or rejections. It is not fun being told that we are so little and so meek. Not everyone, in fact, many of us, are just not interested in serving a King. Especially one who we don't always understand or perceive.

There is is, my friends, there is is. The act of faith. That we could say with Peter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). We can add, "Lord, you are the Way to Eternal Life. The Truth of Eternal Life. You are for us Eternal Life, through the revelation you have given us, through the Church, through the Sacraments, through the gifts of grace, and of course, in the Eucharist."

Is it that simple? Jesus has the words of eternal life (he is the Word) - do we receive that truth? Do we accept it? Do we profess it? Do we acknowledge it in the daily choices and struggles and deadlines and challenges that we face? Do we live in obedience? Do we chose to worship our King? Do we pray for faith?

Our lives are not going to get less stressful, let's just be honest about that. The daily demands and expectations and responsibilities do not go away. The choice before us, however, is how we handle them. Do we understand the words of Isaiah: "O LORD, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done" (26:12).

Let us pray, every day, and especially when we find ourselves overwhelmed and oppressed by that giant whose foot is still lingering over our heads, that we have greater faith. No, that we have great faith! That the Lord will not find us a faithless generation, but one who believes that we will see God's glory in our lives.