Spiritual reflections from one of God's buttercups. May all who read this little blog be encouraged by the words of Sarah Orne Jewett: Look bravely up into the sky - And be content with knowing - That God wished for a buttercup - Just here, where you are growing.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Be content with your vocation and the details within. God needs you to be you!!!
"What was the first rule of our dear Savior's life? You know it was to do His Father's will. Well, then, the first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly to do it in the manner He wills; and thirdly, to do it because it is His will. I know what is His will by those who direct me; whatever they bid me do, if it is ever so small in itself, is the will of God for me. Then, do it in the manner He wills it." - Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
Our family resumed studies yesterday on the Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton. She is the patron of Catholic Education which begins and ends in the home...Ecclesia Domestica! I am always grateful that this beautiful disciple of Christ has a feast day just after our Christmas break. She is a great reminder of the importance of the smallest duty required by my vocation. Her zeal feeds my own and helps motivates me to begin again the work of God through my everyday living.
Mother Seton, who served God first as a wife gifted with children and then, after becoming a widow, began her vocation as a consecrated religious. Her life as a religious would included the founding of the first Catholic Schools in America. Her example encourages me to preserver in my own vocation to provide my children with a Catholic (and classical) home-education. Learn more about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton here:http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2016-01-04#sthash.knnl695H.dpuf
Today my youngest son began learning Sarah Orne Jewett's poem "Discontent". This poem is the inspiration for the title of my blog. Happy blooming!
Discontent
Down in a field, one day in June,
The flowers all bloomed together,
Save one who tried to hide herself,
And drooped, that pleasant weather.
A robin who had flown too high
And felt a little lazy
Was resting near this buttercup
Who wished she were a daisy.
The daisies grow so trig and tall,-
She always had a passion
For wearing frills around her neck
In just the daisies' fashion.
And buttercups must always be
The same old tiresome color-
While daisies dress in gold and white,
Although their gold is duller.
'Dear robin,' said this sad young flower,
'Perhaps you'd not mind trying
To find a nice white frill for me
Some day when you are flying.'
'You silly thing!' the robin said,
'I think you must be crazy.
I'd rather be my honest self
Than any made-up daisy.
'You're nicer in your own bright gown,-
The little children love you.
Be the best buttercup you can,
And think no flower above you.
'Though swallows leave me out of sight,
We'd better keep our places;
Perhaps the world would all go wrong
With one too many daisies.
'Look bravely up into the sky
And be content with knowing
That God wished for a buttercup
Just here, where you are growing.'
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