Miracles

Last week the girls and I had bible camp at St. Charles. I decided to volunteer because I felt a strong need to become more connected with our church and get to know the other families. We go to church every weekend, Madison and Molly both have attended weekly religious education programs, we pray with the girls every day and try to teach them the importance of God, being loving and making good choices. But as a busy wife and mother I have been feeling a lack of spiritual connection and growth lately on a personal level. I'm so consumed with everyday life that I tend to loose perspective of the importance of God's presence in my life. One of the most challenging things for me is joining an established group. I ended up being recruited to teach the lessons which is the biggest level of responsibility and the most time consuming. But like always, I did it for the kids. I taught Madison's group, Molly was in a group with 4 year olds and Mallory was in the nursery. My favorite part was at the end of camp each day. All the kids had a sing along. Mallory even got to participate. She really got into it! Although it was a lot of work and uncharted territory for me, I enjoyed the whole experience. I have always been one to keep prayer and my religious thoughts to myself. During the time that I was not teaching, I had the opportunity to attend adult religious enrichment. My first thought was, I really would love to have the extra time to get ready for the next days lessons. Again, lack of perspective. Later, I was so grateful for the opportunity to discuss and gain a better understanding of the scripture as well I seeing how it really connects with my own life. In the past when I read the Bible, it was difficult to follow and challenging to understand. But when you sit with a group of people and discuss it, you gain so much insight and really see how there is a connection to everything we do each day. One day a Catholic Brother spoke about how the love of God is related to miracles. During biblical times, Jesus turned water into wine and healed the blind and the sick. Now a days, we don't see those types of grand miracles. But in actuality, our days are jam packed full of small miracles that we don't even realize are happening. One of my miracle that week was sitting in my back yard next to a blow up swimming pool watching my two older daughters play and be friends. I waited a long time for that to happen and now they are getting to that wonderful point. Don't get me wrong, they are sisters and they still fight like cats a dogs a lot. But they are becoming friends. And we have grand ones too that we forget about as time passes. The birth of our children, our wedding day. A month before school ended, one of students, who was one of the most fragile and needy children, fell out of a three story window and survived with minimal injury. How's that for a grand miracle! She said she felt like angels were carrying her to the ground. Every day when I am stressed out, I think of the prayer during mass when we ask God to protect us from all anxieties. When I remember those words it gives me a sense of calm. There really is such power in prayer. I'm on a spiritual journey to continue to gain more perspective and not loose sight of these small miracles and remember how God's light, love and word are in my life every moment.