I have a pretty strong, Christian faith and I am a practicing Catholic. My faith is who I am, and I love the beauty of Catholicism. So naturally, I want to raise my children and family in the faith and church. My husband is not as active as I am in the church, but will go with me to mass on occasion and consistently says prayers with the kids. So this Sunday I was ecstatic when he said he would go, and we would all go as a family! Not easy endeavor with a 2 and 3 year old as you can imagine. We got ourselves and the kids dressed and ready to go, and we were 10 minutes early for church! Our 3 year old, Kaleb, has been going to children's church the last 3 weeks with no problems and enjoying it. He has gone on his own with the kids, no persuading, no issues. Well....
We get to church this Sunday, the kids are doing well, and then they announce for the children to go up to the altar so that they can attend children's church. I guide Kaleb out of the pew and up toward the altar. He said earlier in the car "I don't want to go to children's church", and I kind of blew him off. I thought "he has gone the past 3 weeks with no problems.... he is going to children's church!" In my idealistic mind, I saw him galloping off gleefully to children's church. Me, my husband, and 2-year old daughter, Kora, would stay in the congregation listening prayerfully and peacefully to the readings and homily. Then Kaleb would return with such delight at having attended children's church, proudly show me his worksheet and what he learned about Jesus, and we would finish mass and leave the church smiling, holding hands, and singing "Kumbaya, My Lord"! Right, this is how we all want Sunday mornings to pan out. Let's take a look a look at what really happened... |
| St.Mark's Catholic church |
...I guide Kaleb up toward the altar and he sinks to the floor on the steps of the altar in front of the entire church congregation, cries, and throws a tantrum. I sweep in and scoop him up. Run like a mad woman to the back of church giving the other parishioners a smiling nod and that look like "I know, I know, he is so silly and unpredictable! He really does love children's church" while I look toward my husband whom is blowing smoke from his nostrils like a bull about to face a matador. Kora is singing and totally unaware of what is taking place. To top it off, the family sitting next to us is comprised of a young mother sitting by herself with 2 kids under the age of 6 (it appeared) and with a baby in tow having no problems as her children are acting like perfect angels. Well after that there was the "point of no return" for Kaleb. He lost it, my angel child threw a Lucifer-like tantrum with drooling, seething, and grinding of teeth. I never saw him throw a temper tantrum quite like that. So I pointedly looked at my husband, and gave him the thumb motion like "let's hit the road". The tension was real! I have never yelled and cried tears of frustration toward my son like I did. It was a rare and miserable moment. However...
We did settle down after the church debacle, after a lengthy stay in time-out, and after many tears shed by Kaleb and myself. I then realized something very profound. This was one of those growing pains and life's lesson that I already knew, but God just had to reinforce the lesson! I CANNOT force people do anything they don't want to do!! I love my Christian faith and I love going to church, but I can't force my husband and children to have the same faith and love for the church. I went in thinking that morning "THIS is what YOU do!". You (as in the universal YOU) get up on Sundays, get dressed, and go to church to thank God for all your blessings for 1 hour...1 hour.. that's it. But what comes easy and naturally to me, doesn't to others. All I can do is share with them my faith and show them how I live my life.
The same rings true with my love for heath and fitness by recently becoming a Beachbody coach. I can not force anyone to love fitness, work out every morning, and drink Shakeology. All I can do is share with you how it has changed my life for the better and has been such an amazing experience. I can do my best to show you how it has made me a stronger, healthier, and happier person. I can support, encourage, and motivate you, but I can't force you. I am not perfect. I don't have the best physique. I do eat sweets and hamburgers. But I feel so much better since getting involved in Beachbody accountability groups. I can't force you guys to join our groups, enjoy Shakeology as much as me, exercise daily, and eat healthy meals all the time. Although, I would love for you to join me and see you reach your goals as well! However like my faith and my attempt to have my family attend mass with me.....I can lead you to the water, but I can't make you drink it. Or is that a horse? Just kidding.
I can't force people to love what I love. I can only be me and show you who I am and how much my family, faith, fitness, and health means to me. I truly start off each day thanking God for my blessings. Honestly this morning, I did not feel like getting up and doing my workouts. I didn't feel like saying my prayers, being grateful, and putting a smile on my face. But I did it, its who I am. I am not giving up on my faith because my family doesn't feel the exact same way about it as I do; I am not giving up on Beachbody and fitness because everybody doesn't love it like I do; I am not giving up on eating a healthy diet and showing my kids how to eat healthy foods because its hard and they don't like it. But I have learned that all I can do is set an example, be a product of the product, try my best to be a product of Christian faith, and be a product of fitness and healthy living. I can show my kids how important my faith is to me and attending mass. I can show them I like to prepare, cook, and make healthy food choices. I can show them that exercise is a priority and that I take the time to do it.
My Health and Fitness Journey
Thanks for sharing! Catholocism is very important to me and instilling it in my children is something I take very serious. My husband is supportive of this but isn't really a participant so this requires me to bring my kids to mass alone a lot of times. When more than one wants to come, I'm always nervous but never say "no" because it is so important to have them grow up with the same passion as I had. I wasn't in your mass Sunday, but I'm willing to bet it was way worse in your head than it was for the rest of the congregation. Kaleb isn't going to remember that one time he had a meltdown in church but he will remember all of those times he went and worshiped. Your children will grow up with a similar passion for the Church as you have and how awesome is that!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the kind and encouraging words, Alicia! I appreciate it. It is a passion and it probably wasn't nearly as bad as I first thought. At least It wasn't on the altar, in the cry room... whoa! It was my emotional reaction to the entire thing that really bothered me at the end of the day. I wish I could have had handled it better, but we are only human. I do often bring them on my own too, but have not brought both at the same time. Again I have much admiration for you and bringing your boys! Church is so very important to me, and just want to teach them the beauty of it. Thanks again!
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