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Living the Way of the Cross

So on this blog, I have been MIA - yes - it happens to all of us.  I can briefly state that while we've been busy, who isn't anyway, but that I have been hammering out ways to live Lent in new ways.

Got to get this done, check that off the list, ready for that tradition and somewhere find those pair of white shoes that matches this dress just perfect, and oh geez, will Carefree wear this Easter shirt, this light teal color with little complaint?  All these questions and many more.

However, so many of the things that we mothers do, in preparation for Easter are all so important, making this season really come alive for each member of the family.  The living and breathing of Jesus' sacrifice for us, and many times, we, the moms, don't have to look far for ways to put others first.  We do it all the time.

We plan the tradition, the food, the clothes, driving them here to tutoring, there to church choir practice.  And in our free moments, we wrack our brains, have we done enough, did we teach the true meaning, of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord?

I thank God that we get the chance each and every year to try again.  Even should I lack one year or the next - if I keep working, moving and trying my best, the kids will absorb a whole childhood of living liturgical seasons.  The life and breath of our Faith....and it takes a life time to let it all in.

They won't get it all right now.  I have to accept that.  I know as a 38 year old, I don't have it all.  Bits and pieces, is what we all have at certain times in our lives, pieces of the grand puzzle that is the truth of our lives.    These children remind me at times, by their own questions, what we are missing, what we haven't uncovered yet.  And I love that.  I love that they ask questions, and I love being there to answer them.

And if we have a lifetime of that, it's enough.  One day, they will have questions that are beyond me....that only God will know.  So for now, I cherish these times, when the simplest answer, the "Yes, honey He did die for us.  He died for you and for me.  Isn't that super special?" - is enough to have my little Babe hug and kiss me, as if I had done the suffering, as if I had done the dying.  It's his way to show love.

And I smile inside, as should all mothers who give their time and energy, when we think we have nothing more to give - we get up again, we do suffer, we do die to our own wants and desires.  How do we live Lent?  All year long.  It's our calling, it's our vocation.  Motherhood - Another way to live the Way of the Cross.

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