Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Rock Foundation

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.  And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”  Matthew 7:24-27
             
This last Sunday, I believe this was read at Mass; plus, these verses are in the little black book I read during Lent.  They have stayed with me.  I can’t remember what Father said during the Homily or the commentary from the book.  Yet, I keep thinking of my life relating to these words.  As a child, one of my favorite songs came from these verses.  The last part of the song made it all clear.  “So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessings will come down.  The blessings come down as the prayers go up….”  My entire life I have tried to live these very words.  If I haven’t, I have walked in the sand. 
My first boyfriend was definitely a sandy time for me.  I fell head over heels in puppy love.  He broke my heart.  My dad amazed me when he talked about the relationship and God.  I don’t remember what he said, but my conclusion was that I needed to pray about my relationships.  From that moment forward, if I did get hurt, it wasn’t hard.  God stood with me.  Thus, my marriage has always been steeped in prayer since the very first date.  It hasn’t been easy.  Storms have buffeted our relationship many, many times.  However, both my husband and I pray for our marriage giving us a firm foundation of rock.
                With the strong foundation of our marriage, it has carried over to our children.  Both Jerry and I prayed to God about our children from the moment we knew they were expected.  We dedicated them to God even before the baptism.  One of the big things I prayed for is that God would send the mentors they would need throughout their journey to holiness.  With these prayers, we have had many blessings for our children.
                After forty odd years, I am learning to pray for the rest of my relationships.  I incorrectly had it in my head that if I had people in my life that God sent them, and all would be good.  Wrong!  Well, mostly wrong.  Just because they are in my life, doesn’t mean God sent them.  There have been some mean people in my life and I know God would never intend that.  Many of those He did send, I failed to pray for the relationship.  This has created relationships that aren’t built on the foundation of rock that is God.  Because of this failure, I have struggled with many of my friendships and family relationships. 
                At this point, I think I have a pretty strong rock foundation for my house.  I need to continuously pray otherwise the foundation could crack in the next storm.  Alas, I still need to work on the foundation for the outbuildings.  Besides prayer, I don’t know what to do for them in the sand.  Maybe all I can do is pray.  Oh, and sing.  “So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessings will come down.  The blessings come down as the prayers go up….”
                Blessings to you all.

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