The Lesson of the Echee-Lalas

A few nights ago I made enchiladas for the first time, complete with amazing homemade enchilada sauce! As Joe and I sat there laughing at the American/Canadian differences in our pronunciation of enchilada (both far from the authentic!), our little lady piped up next to us and said, "these sure are delicious echee-lalas!" Oh we laughed and decided that was the best pronunciation of all.

Pronunciation was not the lesson at this dinner, however, instead it was gratitude. 

The sauce was quite spicy, and the enchiladas were filled with black beans, sweet potato, and spinach. I knew there was a very good chance it would be too much for our wee ones, but we have a family policy of trying everything so I kept my mouth shut and watched Liliana out of the corner of my eye. With each bite her eyes watered a bit and she chewed quickly before taking a big gulp of water. I was waiting for her to tell me it was too spicy, but instead she threw us a huge smile and commented on how delicious the echee-lalas were. 

It struck me thinking about it later that a grateful, positive word out of our lips can actually change the disposition of our hearts and move them from ungrateful to thankful. Painting an experience with enthusiasm as opposed to negativity can give us the nudge we need to immerse ourselves in that experience and seek joy in some small corner of it. That joy, well, it makes room for miracles.

As one of my favorite authors and bloggers, Ann Voskamp writes, “Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant—a seed—this plants the giant miracle.” Elsewhere she writes, "“As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.” 

Joe and I have been married for almost 5 years. While those years have had their ups and downs, the times when we have managed the downs by seeking to name the gifts we have and be grateful for them have been unquestionably joy-filled, even when we had no idea what to do next. Yet, somehow I always forget this and it takes my 3 year old eating her spicy enchiladas to remind me. 

And then I see it, that this inherent gift for revelling in small blessings is how my children move throughout their day. They rejoice in a ladybug, they scream with delight when I suggest a bathtub, they get down in the dirt and dig without hesitation or practicality, and when it rains they always want to stand in it and get wet. How different life would be for all of us if, instead of seeing rain and feeling humdrum, we saw rain as an opportunity to soak life up even with the repercussions of chilly toes and soggy clothes.

Sister, the ultimate shampoo rinser-outer

Judah was even ok with the fact that his "rain jacket"
was a garbage bag. Now THAT is gratitude, my friends :)

Somehow it seems that as we grow from child to adult we learn to be more and more dissatisfied, but oh what a gift to hold onto gratitude in all things, even the hard ones.

May your last few days of April be filled with small seeds of thanks that are making way for big miracles in your life!

xoxo

Lenten Lessons

It has been just one week since the joyous celebration of Easter day. These days of celebration have given me time to reflect on our Lenten journey, with gratitude and much hope. 

Happy Easter! 

Lent may be one of the things that makes me most grateful to be Catholic. I marvel at God, the great psychologist, who grants us this season of penitence to strip down our lives and identify those things that are keeping us from flourishing (in Him!). I cannot, CANNOT, imagine Easter without Lent. 

I have a history of making Lenten resolutions that are impossible for me to keep. Throw in two little children whom I want to form spiritually and a husband with whom I want to grow spiritually, and I find myself going strong for about one week and falling hard for the next five. I was so determined that it wouldn't happen this year. I think, for me, part of my problem in past years was that I, Emily Anne, decided what my Lenten resolution should be. Not God. "No sir, God", I seemed to say, "I know better so just keep your inspirations to yourself!"

It seems that every year He seems fit to send His own sufferings my way which make my over-the-top legalistic resolutions a bit hard to keep. This year, I decided to make my resolutions a little less rigid to give Him room to work. Guess what...He did? For Joe and I, Lent's 40 days helped us to identify those things that were holding us back from joy...habits, ways of thinking, patterns of fear and selfishness, that caused us to collapse in on ourselves instead of seeking security in the love of God. Moreover, the lack of rigidity allowed us to choose daily a path of sacrifice and sanctity as opposed to feeling as though we were compelled by some over-enthusiastic promise. Ironically enough, choosing the path of sacrifice out of love caused me to live a more sacrificial and more formative Lent than I have in many years. I know my husband can say the same.

Our children? Well, I certainly tried hard to form them in the ways of prayer, fasting, and alms-giving as part of our family culture. Admittedly, I realized that my desires for our daughter's participation in Lenten activities was slightly overzealous due to her age. However, we decorated our house for Lent, baked and crafted Lenten lessons, prayed daily, read much, and worked hard at de-cluttering our home and donating those things we didn't need (even though Liliana thought she did and had to seriously let go as we gave them away!). All in all, I think it was a rousing success.

Lenten pretzels on Ash Wednesday

The best measure of it? That 8 days later we are still working hard at the habits we formed during Lent. It wasn't about giving something up and then dropping it. It was about choosing to sacrifice something or choosing to incorporate something that we would be better off without (or with) all the time. I did have moments...even a full week...of falling back into less disciplined habits. In past years I would have thrown my hands up and given up, but this year maybe my stubborn pride wasn't SO huge that I wasn't able to accept the grace to try again.

This is what happens when you give
a 15 month old a hardboiled egg and a crayon.
He crushes the egg and eats the crayon :)

Diligently decorating. What a sweet girl!

Easter Joy was present in abundance as we woke up bright and early to greet the new day on Easter Sunday. Our hearts were full. Alleluia!

Prayers for you all that your hearts are filled with deep joy and everlasting hope in this season of new life!

xoxo