21. február 2019 Life is messy – Život je chaotický

Domáca úloha z minulého týdňa

Rozpoznal si v uplynulom týždni či si niekedy chcel pre niekoho iného viac než ona alebo on chceli pre seba?

Nepretláčal si toto želanie dobra tak, že si prekročil jej alebo jeho hranicu slobodnej vôle?

5 Life is messy

In those early years, I had no idea that life was so messy. Perhaps that is why God only reveals our journey to us one step at a time. In order to speak deep into people’s lives, you have to have a sense of their heartache, of what keeps them awake at night.

Mercy is simply being with people in their pain and suffering, holding them physically or spiritually, even if there is nothing else you can do for them.

When I was first diagnosed with cancer, They had no idea what was happening inside me. The lesson I learned was that someone can look perfectly fine, but you never know what is going on inside—and everyone has something going on inside.

“Everyone you’ll ever meet is fighting a hard battle.” What hard battle are you fighting?
What hard battle are the people who live under the same roof as you wrestling with? What hard battle are the people you work with fighting?

When we recognize that someone else is fighting a hard battle, we tend to rise to the occasion. It brings the best out in us, and compassion and generosity begin to flow.

So, next time somebody is upsetting you, frustrating, annoying, or ignoring you, take a deep breath and remember that she is fighting her own hard battle. Allow the greatness of your humanity to rise up within you, and act with compassion. Smile, be warm, pray for her, and move on quietly.

Jesus gave us the perfect example “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Life is messy. Birth and death, fear and pain, disease and suffering, hunger and abuse, addiction and betrayal, corruption and exploitation, disappointment and failure, injustice and broken dreams—there is no question, life can be very messy indeed. Often, we are quite good at avoiding the mess.

As children of God we are called to go looking for the mess and make a difference in some way—large or small—according to the gifts that have been entrusted to us.

It is amazing what ordinary people are carrying around with them each day.

Life is messy, and it is not enough just to talk about the mess. We are each called to do something about it. It’s time to confront our own mess, how it affects us, and how our mess affects others. But it is also time to reach out to others who have a mess greater or smaller than our own and be with them in their mess.

Reflect on Christmas, the fact that God decided to put himself right in the middle of our mess.
The world was a mess. It was our mess, not his mess. He didn’t need to come and be with us, among us. He could have redeemed us in an infinite number of other ways. But he chose to put himself in our midst, in the middle of our mess. He didn’t say, “This is your mess; clean it up yourself.” Rather, in an infinite expression of divine mercy he came to be with us in our mess.Life is messy and we are called to put ourselves in the middle of the mess and work to make a difference, however small.

We are all carrying a heavy load, fighting a hard battle, but so is every person we encounter in this mystery we call life. Jesus invites us to “take up [our] cross daily” (Matthew 16:24). And some days we are called to take up someone else’s cross also, so he can catch his breath, have a short rest, or simply have his faith in the goodness of humanity restored.

Resistance will tell you that the problems are too many and that you will never make a difference. Ignore it. Resistance is a liar.

Don’t let it make you feel helpless in the face of life’s mess. Don’t listen to resistance when it comes wearing the mask of discouragement. Never give in to discouragement. You are not alone. You are not helpless. Take some small action. Resistance hates action. Turn to God in prayer. Resistance hates it when we turn to God and trust in him. Reach out to somebody and say, “I am discouraged,” and just by saying the words you will begin to cast out that discouragement and regain your hope.

Let’s decide together, right here and right now, to do something about the mess in our own lives, and whenever possible the mess in other people’s lives. We have to learn how to break through resistance. Resistance is like a wall that we have to break through in order to begin anything. Resistance loves inaction. That’s why as soon as you decide to act, it raises its ugly head in a dozen ways to distract you.
Think about some part of your life that is messy. What positive step can you take this week, however small, to improve that mess? Resistance hates action. It wants you to sit around feeling helpless and getting discouraged. Take action and you will feel yourself begin to fill with hope again.

What resistance hates, it is hope. Hold on to your hope no matter how messy life gets, and share it with everyone who crosses your path.

I am going to share with you some of the key moments in my life when I resisted happiness and resisted God, and how even though it often seems I am taking three steps forward and two steps back, God has patiently waited for me to overcome resistance. Let them deep into my own life and my own struggles.
As you read my story, reflect on your own. Take note of the moments in your life when you were challenged to grow. Be mindful also of any decisions you have made that leave you in need of healing now. What’s most important here is not my story, but yours.Reflect on the times when you have met or failed to overcome it, and the times God has called you subtly or not so subtly to become the-best-version-of-yourself.

KEY POINT Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle and carrying a heavy load.
ACTION STEP Be gentle with the people who cross your path. If someone is grumpy or rude, if someone makes a mistake or does something wrong, give her the benefit of the doubt. You never know what she is carrying around inside.

Tu si môžete pozrieť krátke video, v ktorom Matthew Kelly a Fr. Bob Sherry hovoria o dnešnej téme.

Otázky na zamyslenie (zdielanie)

1. Čo bola veľká „bolesť“ niekoho z tvojho okolia, o ktorej si dlho nevedel alebo si si ju neuvedomoval a ktorá zmenila tvoj pohľad na život tejto osoby?
2. Ktorá historická biografia alebo autobiografia známeho spisovateľa, politika, svätého, športovca, …, ťa prekvapila natoľko, že si ho začal chápať úplne po novom?
3. Chceš sa podeliť s tým, čo ťa niekedy, počas tvojho života, veľmi trápilo a tvoje okolie o tom nevedelo?
4. Ako sa zachováš, keď ťa niekto (bezdomovec, žobrák,…) požiada o „change“?
5. Modlíš sa za špecifické potreby ľudí z tvojho okolia?

Domáca úloha

V priebehu nasledujúceho týždňa buď jemný a pozorný k ľudom, ktorí ti skrížia cestu. Ak je niekto mrzutý alebo drzý, ak spraví chybu alebo niečo zlé, neprenáhli sa so svojím uzáverom. Nievieš čo nosí na svojich ramenách.