Just Start with the Plates

The crisis in the Church is a crisis of saints so growing in holiness is mandatory for each one of us, now more than ever. We need to allow God to transform and purify our hearts so that we can become the saints the world so desperately needs. There may be a lot of clutter in our hearts (sins, selfishness, unforgiveness, etc.) and the task might seem a bit overwhelming. Just start with the plates. Let me explain... 

Last week we had a closet cleaning day at work. My closet was a wreck. It was so full of junk - so much junk that I couldn't even tell you everything that was in there. Things had been accumulated over an eight-year period and because we are busy, I hadn't taken the time to clean it out - so more and more items were just stuck in there. As I walked into the closet and looked at it that morning, I felt completely overwhelmed and thought: "I can't do this!"  Almost immediately a thought crossed my mind, "Just start with the plates." 

That thought, I felt a sense of peace and direction and so I did just that. As I finished the plates, I was a little energized and ready to tackle the next item; and so on, and so on, and so on...all of a sudden, two hours flew by and I was halfway into the closet. It felt so good! At this point, I was really energized so the heavier, more labor-intensive items didn't intimidate me any longer.  By the end of the day, I had finished the closet.

I know through this experience God was reminding me that there are many situations in life where it is better not to look at the whole picture all at once as if I have to tackle everything at the same time. Clutter in our hearts is one of them. Just start with something and work on that - maybe a hardness of heart towards someone or a feeling of jealousy. Spend time with the Lord in prayer (especially Eucharistic Adoration) and let him love you! Let him fill you with his love for you. His love is incompatible with hate, a critical spirit, jealousy, etc. From there he will inspire you to work on a virtue that will help you with the area you are working on. For example: Gratitude to combat jealousy; acts of love to combat hardness of heart, etc.

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