Call EVERYONE to Holiness

　

“You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions.”

~St. John Vianney

It is time we all start pleasing God! The crazy thing about Saint John Vianney’s statement is that we can please everyone around us if we choose to please God each and every day. By pleasing God our “world” can be pleased as well.


I have been thinking a lot about holiness the past week or so. Maybe my wheels got turning because of All Saints Day or maybe they got turning because it was such a challenging week last week. Regardless of the reason-- my thoughts have been surrounded by this idea of holiness.


St. Vianney notes how the world is utterly opposed to pleasing God in thoughts, desires, and actions. I believe it is our job to hold our “world” to a higher standard. We, of course, are supposed to strive for holiness each and every day. However, we MUST call those around us to holiness as well.


I’m so tired of this “don’t judge me” junk! What a person is really trying to say when they say that is don’t hold me to your standards. I live the way I do because I believe God calls me to live in such a way. He also calls us to show our neighbors the way. We may hurt some feelings along the way, but I’d much rather hurt someone’s feelings then remain silent.


Why are we so afraid of the confrontation? Didn’t Jesus deal with much worse each and every day of His life? If He was standing next to us each day would he not speak up at the things we are biting our tongues over? So if we’re really living by the coined phrase: WWJD, then shouldn’t we speak up??


Chances are you aren’t running into “major” injustices every day. But I guarantee you can think of a few times in the past day that you could have stepped in and said something. I’m simple saying for you to try saying something next time. God has this awesome way of giving us words in those situations. You don’t have to say much, and chances are the person will get offended, walk away, or worse. But you know they will be thinking about it later--and all God needs is that small opening to pour a little grace on that individual.
　


Paleo UpdateAfter a week I’ve lost a total of 3.5 lbs. I feel great!! I’m trying to experiment with some different recipes this week. Eliza and I made some paleo banana-nut bread this morning. She gobbled it up. I’ll admit that I’m missing my breads a bit this week, but I’m not “hungry” for them so it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
I’m going to have to start getting more creative with workouts because of this crazy weather. Luckily, the weight workouts I’m able to do indoors with no equipment. I think I’m going to start waking up early and doing my walking and jogging before the kids get up. (I have to get used to the time change first!) Last week I did 2 weight workouts, 1 sprint workout, 1 easy run, 1 soccer game, 1 “fun” day with the kids (indoor workout in which I used the laundry basket to push the kids around among other fun moves), and 1 rest day. This week the only thing I’m going to change is to throw some intermittent fasting in. I’ll let you all know how I progress! J


Don’t forget to count your blessings--especially the small ones!!