Max: putting family first

 

Six months ago, we got a mini-schnauzer from a dear friend (and breeder).  He was my birthday present for my 49th.  Many of us were excited to have him in our lives ... some of us were not.  Six months later, we have found him a new home because nothing ... NOTHING ... should ever be allowed to disrupt a family's peace and well-being.  No thing should be allowed to disrupt the harmonious living together of a family.

Nothing: not a pet, not a job, not an activity.

Family is the core unit of society and receives bombardment from all directions, bombardment that can rip a family apart.  Society tells us we can have it all ... but it doesn't tell us how to share or how to balance the give-and-take necessary.  Society says that "I have a right to xyz", "I should be able to do abc", "I have the right to go to 123".  There are lots of I's in those sentences and not too many "wes".

A family must be a "we" ... must be a unit that works toward the same goals and builds up from within.  A family must be a give-and-take ... with all helping to support each other, nurturing different interests and activities of the individuals while ensuring that nothing tears up the family unit.  At times, things will come into a family that throw that balance off, that can cause a small tear in the family fabric that can become a large rent and then a total disconnect.  Max was throwing our family off balance ... he was causing a small tear.  Max was causing loss of sleep ... tension ... stress.  It wasn't fair to us or to Max.

So, with the help of the dear friend, we found him a lovely, perfect new home.  I should amend that:  thanks be to God, we found him a new home.  It was fast, virtually pain-free and all are happy.  It's a bittersweet happiness though as we're also a little sad to lose our mini-Max.  But we know that he is in a better situation -- lots of room to run, another puppy to play with and a "mom" that really wants him.

And, our family is whole again.at peace again.

 

My Thinking Spot ... revisited ...

I received a wonderful note from a dear friend (who is now a KNITTER!) about my post yesterday.  Great minds truly do think alike as she has been mulling over much of what I was saying (and left unsaid) in my post.  She forwarded the following from Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman, written before the age of technology but at a time when the world was being rocked by the industrial revolution:

A Short Road to Perfection -- September 27, 1856

It is the saying of holy men that, if we wish to be perfect, we have nothing more to do than to perform the ordinary duties of the day well.

A short road to perfection--short, not because easy, but because pertinent and intelligible. There are no short ways to perfection, but there are sure ones.

I think this is an instruction which may be of great practical use to persons like ourselves. It is easy to have vague ideas what perfection is, which serve well enough to talk about, when we do not intend to aim at it; but as soon as a person really desires and sets about seeking it himself, he is dissatisfied with anything but what is tangible and clear, and constitutes some sort of direction towards the practice of it.

We must bear in mind what is meant by perfection. It does not mean any extraordinary service, anything out of the way, or especially heroic--not all have the opportunity of heroic acts, of sufferings--but it means what the word perfection ordinarily means. By perfect we mean that which has no flaw in it, that which is complete, that which is consistent, that which is sound--we mean the opposite to imperfect. As we know well what imperfection in religious service means, we know by the contrast what is meant by perfection.

He, then, is perfect who does the work of the day perfectly, and we need not go beyond this to seek for perfection. You need not go out of the round of the day.


I insist on this because I think it will simplify our views, and fix our exertions on a definite aim. If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say, first--Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising; give your first thoughts to God; make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament; say the Angelus devoutly; eat and drink to God's glory; say the Rosary well; be recollected; keep out bad thoughts; make your evening meditation well; examine yourself daily; go to bed in good time, and you are already perfect.

Interesting that the good Cardinal's words can still mean so much.  Maybe that's why he's currently a venerable and soon to be beatified?

Thanks, Gwen, for the reminder that it is not just what I do but how and why I do it!

My Thinking Spot ...

St. Peter Canisius (1521-1597)

Today's "Reflections from the Saints" on myCatholic.com (which is the BEST homepage I've used yet!), is a quote from Jesuit St. Peter Canisius ...

If you have too much to do, with God's help you will find time to do it all.

Now this is all well and good as long as what I'm doing is the GOOD!  I tend to "have too much to do" because I get caught up in the minutiae of daily living rather than focusing on the big picture of getting me and mine to Heaven! 

I've been thinking about this alot lately.  Maybe it's because I recently had a birthday ... not a momentous, earth-shattering day (like turning 50 or something), but still a time to look back, reflect and fix what ain't workin'. I've realized just how much of my time is spent in the minutiae ... in the self-serving ... in the muck and mire! 

For instance:  I just recently reactivated my Facebook account as I realize that it is a great way to connect with those far and wide ... friends in Austria ... or Rome ... or Australia ... or even here in the States.  A chance to see and read what we're all doing.  This is all good stuff ...

BUT ...

I spent over an hour this morning just trying to work my way around and trying to add things to my Facebook "profile".  I searched out friends ... and acquaintances ... and fun games to play ... but this is not what I SHOULD have been doing. 

Facebook can be a major time-waster; so too, many of my other online activities.  They are good things, but can lead to overindulgence ... self serving  ... one-upmanish in which I really shouldn't be participating. 

The solution? 

Who knows? 

Cutting back on my online time ... obviously.  Being aware of the "danger signals" and keeping all in perspective ... duh!  Letting the internet and online activities set the schedule for my day ... NO!

So, what have I learned over the last month or so of meditating on all this?

If I have too much to do ... activities that are the good, the true and the beautiful ... with God's help, I will find the time to do it all.  All the other stuff ... too bad! God shows us the way ... it's just that sometimes He has to hit me upside the head to get my attention.

Can I be self-disciplined enough to make a change.  Can I separate the online wheat from the proverbial chaff?  Am I making sense or am I being too Quixotic?