What Is Your Calcutta?

How important can our one small, unspectacular life be? Consider this: the good that each of us can accomplish, even with limited resources and restricted reach, not even a Mother Teresa could achieve. The family, friends and coworkers whom we alone can touch, with our unique and unrepeatable mix of gifts and qualities, not even Mother Teresa could reach. No one else on the planet, and no one else in history possesses the same network of acquaintances and the same combination of talents and gifts as each of us do.

There is no need, then, to travel to far-off lands to contribute to Mother Teresa’s mission, or to follow her example. Wherever we are, with whatever talents and relationships God has entrusted us, we are each called not to do what a Mother Teresa did, but to do as she did -- to love as she loved in the Calcutta of our own life.

This excerpt from a wonderful post (read the rest here) that really got me to thinking...what is my own Calcutta? Where am I called to be Mother Teresa in my own life?

For now, I think it is my home and my family and possibly even the children and families that I interact with at the school where I teach Pre-K. I am constantly struggling with the feeling that I don't serve enough or do enough. But...when I stop to reflect on and pray about my life and my situation, I realize that I am doing what I am called to do in the way of service right now by raising small children, being a wife and getting children ready to enter kindergarten and begin their school careers. When I stop to really think about it, I am doing a lot of the same the work that Mother Teresa did - caring for the needy, tending to the sick, feeding the hungry. I just need to remember that as I am doing this work, I need to be doing it with the intention of introducing the face of God to those who do not know Him yet through my actions.

Since [the poor of Calcutta]were left with nothing and no one to mirror to them the face of God, Mother Teresa was sent to show them in his name, in concrete works of love, how beloved of God they were.

Well...I don't always do a great job at that face of God part. They definitely did not see the face of God in my face this morning when they were not behaving at an event we were attending. If they did, it was the face of Jesus at the temple while turning over the moneychangers tables!

I saw a beautiful example of someone being Mother Teresa in their own Calcutta over the past few weeks and showing the face of God to everyone around her through it all - my mom! My grandmother was admitted to the hospital 3 weeks ago and in a two week span, things went from bad to worse until she passed away a week ago today. My mom was by her side every minute. She stayed at the hospital with her, comforted my grandfather, and kept the family informed and updated. Even when it wasn't pleasant to watch what my grandmother was going through, and most of the time it was not, my mom was there doing what she could to love and comfort her and my grandpa. One thing that helped all of them was that they prayed the rosary a lot. Even when my grandmother was the very sickest, my mom would pray a decade with her which was about all my grandmother could handle sometimes. My mom was there with Granny while she slipped away from this world into Jesus' arms. Afterward, my mom put aside her own exhaustion and sadness to be with my grandpa and help him make arrangements. She has been by his side every minute - watching him suffer even though she is grieving as well. And since the funeral last Thursday, she has been there helping clean out the house. I know she has to be so tired but she hasn't complained and or stopped thinking of what others need - even having the foresight to get granola bars for everyone to eat in between the funeral and the ride to the cemetery when there wasn't time for lunch. She has reflected God's face at every step of this ordeal - always giving Him glory and depending on Him for her strength.

The importance of Mother Teresa's example, even for those who bear much milder Calcuttas, is in showing how far faith and love can reach in this life -- even in the night, even buffeted by pain, with every wind against it. Her victory in the night is proof that the exercise of faith and love is ultimately our free choice, never beholden to circumstance, a decision accessible at all times.

May we always make the choice, despite our circumstance, to remember that God can give us the chance to help others - to help them through their own pain as well as to help them know the face of God.

Slave, Servant or Saint?

Talking about my husband and the answer is...all 3 lately! I have to take a minute to brag about how lucky I am to have the most amazing husband in the world! We're going on the 3rd month of me feeling terrible which means he has been taking up the slack at home all this time. And it's no easy task! He works in a fast pace environment. He's on the phone all day long talking to people which must be exhausting. I start feeling really bad about 4:30 or 5:00 which is also the time that I start calling to bug him about when he's coming home - I'm trying to work on that...really I am.

By the time he gets home, I'm usually to the point of not being able to stand up without feeling like I need to run to the restroom so I'll have the girls watching something on TV while I lie down and pray for his arrival! So, when he gets home, instead of being able to relax and unwind from his day he starts a new phase of his day. It's Mr. Mom time!

When we're in our normal routine, I usually handle getting the girls ready for bed while he puts away toys and cleans up from dinner. It works out nicely because by the time the girls are down, the house is straightened up and we can relax. But now, if I'm too sick to get up, he has to get the girls ready for bed, tuck them in and then straighten the house all himself. Usually all before he's even had dinner!

That's the evening. The mornings is when he's an even bigger help. The mornings are my other bad time of the day (the middle is bad too but I can usually get a little relief and go on with my day). In the mornings he gets up first thing and makes me a protein shake. I have to have one of these in bed before I can even think about trying to take a shower. Then he gets in the shower during which the girls wake up. Big Bear comes in our room and talks to me while I drink my shake but Me Too is stuck in her crib. Once Doug is out of the shower, he gets dressed and then goes in to take care of the dirty work (diapers that is) that there is no way I could handle. There is no way I could do dirty diapers first thing in the morning - shake or no shake. Next he makes their breakfast (another thing I can't handle in the morning) while he makes his lunch. He usually has them all settled in their high chairs and about the time that I come out from showering and can usually handle it from there.

He does this without complaint (usually) and with such a servant's heart. I'm so proud of him for how he has stepped up to take care of me and our family during this time. I hope he knows that his service to me and the girls is also a way of serving and worshipping God. I hope he knows that his rewards are being stacked up for him in heaven. I hope he knows how much I love and adore him for being such a great husband and father.

I know we don't know a lot about St. Joseph but I feel that this was the type of husband and father he must have been for Mary and Jesus. I imagine him doing household things when Mary was sick or tired. I think that he took Jesus out to play or to his workshop to give Mary a rest when she needed it. And I'm sure he did it without complaint. He might not have always liked everything he was called to do but he did it for his family and to serve His God.

I am so blessed!!