A Saint Like Me?

During the summer, life tends to slow down a little bit. (Though, admittedly, the to-do list for preparing for next school year keeps growing at the admin level.) Still, without the hustle and bustle of the students, parents, and teachers throughout our building, the pace is slower, the mornings are less rushed, and the work hours are, for the most part, shorter.

At least for me, with slowing down comes more time for quiet and reflection. Quiet time is usually a welcome thing, but sometimes it can bring a lot of thoughts, emotions, etc. to the surface, causing normal thoughts for the tasks at hand to be interrupted. In the words of a friend I recently spoke to about having silent time in the car, he said, "Ain't nobody wanna be in there. There's too much going on!" Um...same.

My thoughts have recently been vocational in nature - as in, I have no clue what I'm supposed to do with my life. (Well, that's a little dramatic - I guess I have some clue, as I definitely feel called to this whole Catholic education thing.) But even within Catholic education, what mark am I supposed to make? Am I doing everything I can with what I have to advance the Kingdom of God in the here and now? Am I meant for the single life, or is the good Catholic man I've been praying for going to enter my life at some point in the near future? (I could keep on listing the questions swirling around in my head, but I think this glimpse gives you the idea.)

In life, God tells us to be patient. And that's hard to do, as it's more about trust than patience, IMHO. What's also difficult (yet, I guess you could say freeing at the same time) is there are so many examples and models of how to live the faith. And, as any teacher can tell you, choice is good...until you are overwhelmed by too many of them. Such is how I feel with the Saints. But I was reading an article in the Salesian magazine a few days ago, and one of the things the sister writing the article said stuck out to me: "God knows the world needs a Saint like you, too."

And it's true. God doesn't need another Mother Teresa or Thomas Aquinas, a Therese of Lisieux or an Ignatius of Loyola. He needs us - in all of our brokenness, with all of our gifts. And that is a beautiful thought! So as the pace stays slower (at least for the immediate future), I'm going to take comfort in that. I may not know the road ahead, but I need to trust that God will guide my footsteps.

I hope you take some time to relax and reflect this summer too. And keep fighting the good fight because the world needs a Saint like you, too.