Imperfect Catholic Mama

The other day I was taking a holy hour, thinking about this season of Lent and what God wanted from me. I wanted to make this season fruitful and was un-inclined to doing the typical “give up sweets,” etc. I wanted my Lenten exercises to come from the heart and really help me to grow.

Something I had read earlier came back to me. It went something like this:

Now I’m not about to go into detail about the biggest struggles of my life (if you were hoping for that, I’m sorry to disapoint), but this made me reflect that if I want to follow God’s law better, I need to love the law more, and I will love His law more if I love Him better. This reminded me of the parenting books I’ve been reading.

A foundational principle of gentle parenting (A.K.A Positive parenting) is that connection breeds cooperation (future post on this!). If you are emotionally connected to your child then they are going to want to behave.

I suddenly realized the same applies to our relationship with God.

If we foster a relationship with Christ then we will want to follow his commandments. Connection with God will breed cooperation with His law.

So this Lent I am focusing on my relationship with Christ. It seems vague and rather broad, but it doesn’t have to be. How do we build relationships with those around us? We spend time with them.

My Lenten resolution is as simple as spending more time with Christ. My husband is giving my the opportunity for a weekly holy hour without the baby. And I am taking time to pray when my baby is napping, rather then scrolling instagram or working on household chores. When she’s fussy and I’m trying to do household chores, I remember that “whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me” and I take time to be with her. Likewise, striving to be more present when I nurse, change her diaper, and serve her in the little ways. Focusing on my relationship with Christ, and as an extension my child, is teaching me to be patient and present. Two things I struggle with the most.

Christ said to be like little children: Wholly dependent on him, confident in His love for us, and longing to be with Him, just like Children are with us. Connection breeds cooperation. Focusing on connection is showing me where I need to improve in cooperation , as well as giving me opportunity to work on that. Becoming like a little child is helping me cooperate from a place of connection, out of love, rather then mere obligation.

If connection breeds cooperation then a lack of connection breeds a lack of cooperation.

If you are struggling to follow God’s law, try focusing on your relationship with him, rediscovering the “why” behind following His law. Perhaps, like me, you’ll be surprised just how helpful it is to focus on building a relationship and letting the cooperation fall into place, rather than the other way around.

Or maybe not, and you’ve found my entire post unhelpful. That’s okay too. 😀 I’d love to hear what you’ve found to be fruitful in your life during this season (Lent and/or this long winter slowly leading to Spring) in the comments below!