Hey Lovelies!
So I was just taking a break from my summer assignments for school when I cam across the many inspiring stories on Pinterest. Simple things like people giving a ride to old men who are walking far away to a man giving a home to a homeless lady he knew in his youth.
Honestly things like this bring a tear to my eyes. Just thinking about the many people that give what little they have to others makes me feel like an inconsiderate, greedy teenage girl. But the reason I was so astonished and gave a lot of thought to these stories is because of something I was told yesterday.
I am Catholic and practice my religion, so please no rude comments, I would like you all to respect my personal life because I am sharing it with you all. So I was in church yesterday and a very special guest was at my church, he actually works with the Pope in Rome {how awesome is that?!?!}. He gave the sermon, I guess, and was talking about three words that the Pope says often that we should live by as Catholics: Compassion, Sharing, and the Eucharist.
Of course the last one is specific to the Catholic religion, but he told a story whilst talking about the previous two words that really spoke to me. He said that we must give what little have because God will multiply what we give to others. {I am sorry if it is a rough translation, this was in Spanish.}
Wow!!! Honestly I have never thought about it that way. For a good part of my life I did not understand why some people had more than others. I could not wrap my heads around the fact that there were children in other countries, in my own country, starving, homeless, orphans, depressed, etc. Sometimes I wondered why no matter how hard I worked I did not have as much as my richer friends/colleagues. It honestly has puzzled me for a long time.
I do not think my question has been fully answered yet, but I will tell you this, part of my curiosity has been satisfied.
So why do we feel so happy when others do good? Why do we feel so excited inside when helping someone else, whether they have less or more?
Because we know that one way or another we will be re-payed for our good graces. We realize that the happiness others feel is reciprocated onto ourselves, and that is enough for us {or it should be}. I would always be upset when my mother would not give me an allowance and would say that it is my responsibility to clean my room, my bathroom, my dishes, to help her around the house, etc. But I was especially upset when she would say that God will re-pay me.
This is getting a bit personal, but I feel it's something that I need to share. For a really, really long time I felt that I was never going to be re-payed, that no matter what I did things would never go my way. So I did a little worse in school this past semester, I got three Bs on my report card on purpose. This way not seem bad to some people, but I cried that night, not because my parents were upset {they were actually quite okay} but because I was mad at myself for not trying my hardest.
Yesterday I realized that I am so lucky to be the person that I am today. I am lucky to have the opportunity to help others and serve others. That is the greatest gift of all! We should be content with what we have and the fact that we can share what we have with others. Whether it be your creativity, your knowledge, your physical wealth, or even just five breads and two fish.
I hope that I have inspired even just one person to do something worthwhile today. To live a life worth living! To help others! To be the greatest version of themselves they can be!
Life is not always going to be a ray of sunshine, but remember that a rainbow only forms after the storm. We all feel relative poverty at some point, but deciding what to do with those unhealthy feelings is a choice we all have.
xoxo, Ana
