I was reflecting on what a blessing it is to be able to see God everywhere…Even at school…
God has blessed me with three living children.
Each of those three children have a different personality and a different approach to everything in life. And the differences between them are no more obvious than when considered in the context of school.
My eldest son enjoys the academic part of school. He likes to learn and listens in class. He seeks out additional work and is always trying to do better. He is the sort of student who pushes himself and so is never in need of his mother to push him and because of this, my eldest son is very comfortable going into school because he uses the experience as it was meant to be used.
My second son does not enjoy school. He considers school a waste of time and a waste of his life. When he goes to school he does so dragging his heels and with many an argument about what it is that he does not like about school. Once he arrives at school he loves it there. He has friends and is an average student who is happy in the middle of the road and popular with the other boys in his class. But regardless of the merits of his position, my second son still complains every single morning about going to school.
My youngest child, my daughter, is the sort of child who goes to school to play with her friends. She is not worried at all about her academic performance. Instead, she goes with the flow, does her best, does not get stressed about anything, and barely even tries to keep up. Instead, she sees the good in her situation and focuses on the things she can control, which include which of her friends she will play with today.
And I have been thinking about these three different approaches to school as I have been thinking about the Angels, the Saints and the saints…
You see, my eldest son is like the angels. He is able to do the action of being at school as a school student most perfectly of all my three children. This is not to say that he is perfect, but it is to say that he understands the purpose of school as the angels understand the purpose of accepting the Holy Will of God, and in this way, he is able to profit most from the experience of school. Because he does not waste any energy fighting the essence of school, my eldest son is able to enjoy that school life with little effort or problem.
My second son is like a saint with a lower case “s”. That means he is like the soul who merits heaven but who is not publicly recognised by the Church as a canonised Saint. This is because although he accepts is “suffering” when it is thrust upon him, he most often spends his time trying to resist that suffering because he is afraid of it. And this is like most of us in terms of the Holy Will of God. We spend so much time fighting against it that our FEAR becomes greater than the required task at hand.
My daughter is like the Saints with a capital “S”. These are the Saints who are canonised by the Catholic Church. These souls are recognised for their holiness. This is because they are willing to accept the Holy Will of God without complaint and without judgement. They focus on what they can control and leave the rest to God to decide.
And I was thinking about that today, as I was reflecting on what a blessing it is to be able to see God everywhere… Even at school…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.