the Hard Questions

It's a very good morning when you wake up. Someone told me that once and I never gave it a thought because yes we wake up every morning, but sometimes we don't do we? This blog is not about death or anything that sad, however it is about being grateful that we wake up and we have blessings all around us even when we think we don't.

This morning I was very excited to wake up for some reason. I am the grouchy morning person you do not talk to until I have had at least one cup of coffee if not two. However this morning was different. I got up, woke up the children with the "Raise and shine and give God the glory..." song and tons of kisses. My oldest daughter was having none of my cheerfulness. She was quite annoyed actually.
"Mom, stop it I am so too old for that! Save it for the babies..."blah blah blah in her usual teenage language. My niece on the other hand giggled and sat up and eagerly went to the kitchen table for a bowl of cereal.

We all got dressed and headed out to Mass. Now dragging a revolutionary questioning teenager to Mass is quite a challenge especially when each question is very difficult to answer. Her questions lately consist of "Why does God allow bad things to happen?" or "What has God done for me?" or "Why should we believe in God when he doesn't care about all the suffering we go through here on earth?" These questions always make me pause and sometimes I don't have a good answer. Sometimes I want to think the same thing. Then sometimes I want to have a crisis of faith and give up on God too.

However, today at Mass, the homily was such a good one, and so needed on a day when I did not have good answers. Father Michael made some very good strong points. The homily was about standing up for those who can not stand for themselves, being grateful for what you have and knowing how to share what you have with love to those who don't have as much. My daughter sat next to me and held my hand and listened. She really listened. She did not fall asleep which I was very grateful for. Later in the car after Mass was over, I asked the children what they thought about the Homily and what it meant to them. My lovely niece said that we should be nice to each other and help those who need it. My revolutionary teenager said, "Mom, it means that no matter what we do, even the little things matter. We do the right thing because we are supposed to. And we help those who don't have food and stuff because we are supposed to because that is how we show God's love." I smiled and said that's right. So then I was able to answer one of those hard questions. "What has God done for me?" I looked right at her and said God gave me you and he gave you me. I show you love and faith and the right thing to do because God lives in me and our love shines through because of Him.

It was a good moment because she understood and she said "Well thank God for that, cause you are the best Mommy ever."

When I get a Mommy instead of a Mom or Mother, then it's a good day and we have connected. So I think that perhaps I am not doing such a bad job as a parent. Even though I drag her to CCD classes and I drag her to Mass and I drag her to volunteer events, she gets it. At least today she gets it and maybe someday when she has children of her own she will understand more fully and do the same.

So I am grateful I woke up cheerful today. I am grateful that we made it to Mass today. If we had missed it, then perhaps we would have missed that special moment together. So I say to God today, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to show your love through me to my daughter when she needed it most.