Every Single Blessed Day

Burying wishes under their needs
Staring in horror as the Son bleeds

Compelled to do what is morally right
Though insignificant compared to His plight

Wishing and hoping for dreams to come true
Unsure of life - unsure of You

Feeling futile as you give self away
Every single blessed day

So many poor ones
Too many who cry
So many needing
Why, God, oh why?

To get us to Heaven
Is that the trick?
Each good deed
Adds a paving brick?

Cementing the path
Is that the key?
To do what is right for all,
Not just me?

You can always say no when you tire
Jumping right down from your cross
You can throw in that towel
To recoup some of your loss

Or you could learn from the Master
And stay the course come what may
Giving more of self away
Every single blessed day

©2006 Maureen Locher

Can we really live our lives for others?

OK, pick yourself off the floor for surely you have fainted seeing new material here! I'm a mom. I've been busy. It's Christmastime. What can I say? I can say thank you for keeping coming back here to check if anything is new. So, thank you very much. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, or if that's too Pollyanna, I hope you survived Christmas.

Between serving lunch to my son's basketball team here at our house today, and awaiting my niece's family tonight, I have written some thoughts to you ~~~

Live our lives for others. Is this truly possible? Can it be done? It is really possible in this World of Me to put ourselves second, third, fourth, last? I know what I want. What I want. I think about me. I worry about me. I wish for my happiness. But can I do a 180? Should I do a 180? Is that what God wants of me?

I think that’s exactly what God wants of me.

It means that we keep giving until we think we can’t give anymore. And then when we are 100% sure we can’t possibly give anymore because we have completely lost our own sense of self, we keep giving. And when we turn that corner we discover a strength we never knew we possessed.

I have always been strong. I had to be. I raised four sons. I was not the breadwinner so I won everything else; that’s what was decided early on. I would stay home and raise the kids. Barefoot and pregnant.

So, in the first six years of my married life I had five c-sections. How crazy is that? Looking back I am simply amazed. But I did it. One daughter followed by four sons.

And then one day my daughter didn’t want to wake up. Three days later she was gone. No warning. Just gone. I was five months pregnant. I did manage to slip on some shoes for the funeral.

How did I survive? Really, how did I? How does anyone survive the loss of a child? For the sake of the others, that’s how. In my case, it was for the sake of my unborn child. He was my uppermost thought. I would have done anything to protect him, and protecting him meant keeping all those horrible emotions inside of me. It killed me but it saved him. Thus began the beginning of living for others.

At the time I did not understand the benefit of living for others; I just did it. It was the only way for me. But I didn’t do it selflessly. Most times I did it quite begrudgingly. As more and more children came, less and less time was available for me. Why did my job last 24 hours a day seven days a week with no time off for Sundays or holidays? (Or even for good behavior?) And although my husband was the sole breadwinner, his 9-5 job was finite. He got time off. He unwound. He unplugged. Every one of you moms out there can surely relate.

I was naïve back then, but I’m not so young anymore. However, I’m not so old either. I am what I am. And what I am is a questioning soul. I question many aspects of my life now. I could go crazy with all my wonderings. Or I could just let go of them and give them to God which is the route I have taken.

I feel God’s presence all around me. He guides my decisions and makes the ordinary extraordinary. I have been fortunate enough to love many people in this life – family as well as friends. They used to be my be-all-and-end-all. They are not anymore. Now God is my be-all-and-end-all. It is a very freeing way of feeling. His rules are clear; His love never-ending. He has no ulterior motive to anything He does. He only wants us to be the very best we can be. He gives us every single thing we need every single day. He gives us just what we need for today. Since no one is guaranteed a day beyond this one, that is enough.

So I live for this one day. Every day I pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, but many times I begin “My Father who art in heaven…” He is my Father. And He is yours. Do you talk to Him every morning? Do you thank him when your life goes oh-so-right? Or do you only curse Him when your life dive-bombs?

Would you even want to be around a friend who only wanted you for what you could give to her? Would you seek to surround yourself with takers if you had the choice? At my worst times I reeled about hating takers. On and on I would complain about, and to, the takers in my life. But you know what? Without all the takers I never could have given so much of myself for all these years. And isn’t that the point of a Christian life? To give yourself away every single blessed day?

So, even though I have screamed, cried and lamented aspects of this life because of the many demands on my life, without those demands I could not and would not have had the opportunity to give. You don’t give a glass of water to someone sitting in the middle of an oasis. God put me where He needed me to be, amongst all the takers. And each time I gave, He gave me more.

Remember the scene from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” when the Grinch’s heart breaks out of its confines bursting forth with the love of all the Whos in Whoville? He felt firsthand what it feels like to experience true love. That love enabled the Grinch to lift that sleigh full of toys and Christmas trees high above his head and turn it around to zoom down the hill to the throng of singing Whos. Love redirected him.

Love can redirect your life, if you are smart enough to let it. Not romantic love, but real true love. God’s love. All you have to do is look for God’s love and you will find it. Ask, seek, knock. Ever heard that? It works.

There is however a catch. It’s actually a rather large catch. You can’t simply ask, seek and knock willy-nilly. You have to ask for what God wishes you to have. So that pretty much eliminates winning the lottery or marrying the man of your dreams, unless, of course, it’s in God’s plan for you to marry Prince Charming. Some women do. But have you ever noticed that the fairytale life rarely, if ever, ends happily-ever-after?

There’s just something wrong with people having it all. Why? Because if we have it all down here why would we ever seek God in His heaven? If this is it and it is perfect, why wish for more? Why strive to attain eternal life?

I look at people in my life and cannot fathom why they must suffer in any way. They are good. They are giving. And therein lies why they must suffer. It’s not that they must suffer; it is that God has given them the privilege of suffering.

Yeah, I know, you probably think I’m nuts. You’re not the first. But think about it. What do you wish for your children? You wish for them the very best. Do you give it to them? Do you hand them anything they want right away just because they want it? I hope not because if you do you are going to have some rotten kids. You know what your children need. You know the need for discipline, the need for suffering. You are not a masochist for realizing that some life lessons can only be learned through suffering. God isn’t a masochist either.

He loves us as He loved His only Son. Did God the Father set God the Son before the world with a jeweled crown on His royal head and a silver spoon in His mouth? No, He did not. We all know the horror the Father allowed on the Son.

He allowed it. He witnessed it. He survived it. Why? Same reason I kept going after my daughter died. For the sake of others. God gave the supreme example of selfless love to all generations. Who am I to throw the example aside to live only for my wishes?

So I have begun to give to those who need it, to all those who cross my path. Not just the ones I choose to see, but finally I “see” the ones closest to me every day. Those who look me squarely in the face and strive to drive me over the proverbial edge. Those who demand and expect. Those who forget to say thank you. This is where God put me. I finally see why He put me here.

It will surely be a struggle. I expect it to be. I wish for it to be. If I am given a difficult path it means that God has put the same confidence in me that He put in the Son. His Son rose to the occasion. I will, too, and God will be with me every step of the way.

~Maureen :)

Tears of a Mother

Drop by drop the tears spill out upon her cheek
Little spurts of sadness week after week
Quiet cries inflict the pain upon her heart
Until a new day begins and she must start
To do all that is expected of her
And say not a word

How will she watch Him day after day
Living and loving in that little boy way?
How will she do all for Him that she must
Instilling in Him faith, hope and trust
When all the while destiny draws near
And say not a word?

How will she steer Him on His clear course?
Who will be her unending source
Of wisdom and virtue and unending love
To teach her the values of God above?
For whom does she pray
Yet say not a word?

As her Boy grows into the Man
She can do more than anyone can
To ease His fear, to lift His eyes
To the Father above who also cries
In pain for the Son who must suffer
And still she says not a word

Why was she chosen to bear such a weight?
How will she live knowing His fate
Just waiting and watching until that day
When soldiers come to take Him away
To a death long foretold to save us all?
Yet all will watch and say not a word

©2006 Maureen Locher

I hope you enjoy my poem; it's one of my favorites. Mary was just a mom - just like so many of us. And look what she did with her life. ~Maureen :)

Were Our Moms This Stressed?

So, how crazy are you on this St. Nicholas Day? Did the little kiddies put their shoes out last night? Christmas tree up yet? How many presents bought? Cards written yet?

I have “part” of one of those lovely Christmas chores done. I wrote most of my cards yesterday. Tree’s not cut down yet. Presents bought: next to nil. House messy as ever not even ready to receive decorations – Ho Ho Ho.

I, however, am trying not to be Scrooge-like. One year I sent my Christmas cards on Christmas Eve Eve and made the postmaster laugh. So, I’m ahead of the game on that score. Instead of a million things to do, I now only have 999,999! Score one for me.

Why do we do it, ladies? Why do we do so much? Were our moms this stressed? They had less modern conveniences, so they should have had less free time – or did they have more? Were they less-stressed than their daughters are? Were they happier? Or did they just not complain as much as we do? I wonder.

~Maureen Locher

You Can Comment Now

Thank you to all who informed me that I had to enable the comments. I told you I'm new at this - I wasn't kidding!

~Maureen :)

Tragedy or Statistic?

30,000 children die in poverty every day? 30,000? Children?

While listening to today’s radio installment of “Speaking of Faith,” I was struck by this statistic. Different words strike different people. As a mom this is unfathomable to me. If another tsunami hit or another terrorist struck, obliterating 30,000 people in one place, the generosity of the American people would be heard in such overwhelming chords.

That’s one of the greatest problems; these poor children do not die together in one space. If they did their plight could be ignored no longer. As when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we the American people could not turn a deaf ear nor a blind eye to the devastation. For once, the “in your face” media attention had a striking purpose: to strike us all square in the face, heart and pocketbook to DO something.

But these poor ones are spread out all over. They are born, they suffer, enduring their hunger and illness relatively alone, and then they die. When this happens they become the “statistic.” Since when has the death of a hungry child been demoted from detestable tragedy to statistic?

I’m one person - one busy mom before Christmas. My “to do” list is just as long as every other lucky American mom’s. I almost wrote “every American Mom,” but stopped myself because that is not so. There are so many moms out there who are not scrambling to buy presents for their children that their children don’t really need. There are moms out there who are struggling to put a box of macaroni and cheese on their table for dinner.

We “lucky” moms must do something about this. Give to those Salvation Army bell ringers. Give to your church. Give to that homeless shelter. Go through all those clothes that your own children have long outgrown. It’s the beginning of a cold winter in many parts of our country. Cold children become sick children. Sick children die.

Statistic or tragedy? The spin you put on it shall dictate the way you respond.

~Maureen Locher

Taking Chances

Taking chances
Reaching out
to find the way

Leaving comfort
Working hard
to form the dream

Starting small
Hoping big
to make the difference

Putting faith
In a God
who's here for all