Fear of the Lord. When I stop to contemplate the reverence and awe of God, I suddenly get over myself. My heart is warmed and I remember that it’s all about love.

The Holy Spirit abounds and your instructions and insights via Sirach have proved very helpful to me for digging up old habits that hinder new life.

Judging a book by it’s cover? I read a post about how excited a mom was to finally send her kids back to school and felt a bit jealous. Like, why am I bothering with this when I can’t seem to succeed anyway? I heard God’s voice and it was about how I should just keep going because if I send them elsewhere, I will just be postponing the work that I must do anyway. Of course, I doubted this wisdom.

Then, I went to the commissary and a man, who I secretly judged as a pervert of sorts and probably not a man of God, asked me where the kids were. I replied hesitantly that they were home with Dad and that we homeschool. I waited, cringing a bit. He replied, “That is so good. The influences today are so bad.” He went on to say that it’s like saving for retirement. Its very hard and you have to sacrifice now, but you are so glad that you did. I told him that he was confirming God’s voice and I felt terrible that I had judged him in my heart. I vowed to be much more careful in the future.