"The More One Struggles the More One Succeeds"

My last written blog was about the glorious day I was having last Friday. Well, that day has been followed by some not so glorious days. The harder I have been trying to be a Saint these last few days the more trials and tribulations seem to come my way. So far I feel like I keep flunking my tests in patience and love toward my family and even toward myself.

But alas, I keep picking myself up and trying again and again. I keep trying to not yell at my kids and my husband. I keep trying to not over eat, nor drink too much coffee, or overspend on my credit card. This list could go on and on. And the biggest thing I have been trying to do is to learn that I shouldn’t let my trials and tribulations become major crises.

Early on in my study, “You can become a Saint,” by Mary Ann Budnik, I came across this advice in the workbook, “As your prayer life deepens, you will find that you are happier, more content. Small things won’t be blown out of proportion. Set backs are just that, not major crises. Rather than being stressed out when things don’t go your way, you will offer up the contradictions, realizing it’s God’s will for you, as well as learn how to develop virtue from the experience such as patience and humility,”

Patience and humility are the things I have been learning through my trials and tribulations. Today I had one particular trial. My fifteen year old daughter had a huge golf tournament she was selected to play in for the junior varsity team of her high school. She had to leave early for the tournament this morning and her dad took her. But he was running late. When they got close to the golf course he took a wrong turn and got lost. This made Michaela frustrated to the point of tears and some yelling. She called me while they were lost and she was beside herself because she had hoped to arrive early and practice and get warmed up. Instead she was so stressed that she wanted to come home.

It turned out that she was only about 8 minutes late. She was suppose to be there one hour before her tee time. So I told her, “take a deep breath, you are only about 8 minutes late and I’ll take on your tears and worry and stress." I told her, "give that all to me and focus on what you need to do, and you will do awesome." I assured her I would pray really hard for her. This seemed to help her and she took her deep breath and went into the clubhouse and began her golf day.

I had to stay back home with my three year old son and so I spent my time shedding a few tears and praying all the mysteries of the rosary for her to do well. I fasted from coffee and felt exhausted. I offered all my suffering up for my daughter.

Even though I did all this for her she performed poorly with one of the highest scores of the day. I learned a lot of patience and a lot of humility with my acts of parenting and prayer.

I know that God answers prayer his own way and that my prayers did not go in vain. I read in my “You Can Become a Saint” book that, “In the economy of the world, few people are winners. Everyone struggles for material success. Few attain the level they wish. In God’s economy there are no losers. The more one struggles, the more one succeeds.” I’d like to believe both my daughter and I succeeded today.