“I Like Dogs, But….”

God is so good to me. I am so blessed. I have  many wonderful people in my life. My mind is full of memories of his goodness to me.

A number of years ago I remember praying on the Sunday morning of a Men’s Retreat. I found myself distracted and feeling not particularly close to the Lord. I asked God to help me. Soon after, as I looked around at the other men, many of whom I knew pretty well, I became overwhelmed with admiration and love for them…. I saw how each of them was trying so hard to serve the Lord, to be good husbands and fathers…. each of them had suffered…each of them had failed at times, but they were still in the fight. I began to weep as I thought of them… what great men they were… how proud I was to know them. And then I thought, wow, this is a glimpse of how God sees these men. God is proud of them…God knows them thru and thru, their strengths and weaknesses and he loves them and will stand with them and help them. It was a great moment for me.

Well, today was a fairly normal day.  I had the opportunity to relate to a number of people…. wonderful people, holy people. It started with saying good morning to my  wife, who is an excellent and holy woman; she puts up with the “humors” of her husband, humors as in eccentricities or craziness. (I’m sure that’s a surprise to you.) She is such a servant, not wasting a moment, but using her time to serve so many…. prayer, then off to Mass, then off to clean the offices of our community, back to babysit a 2 year old grandson, next a zoom meeting, then helping another grandson with his homework, taking a walk, saying a rosary, interceding throughout the day…. I’m serious, she is amazing and I know the Lord is pleased. 

Well, I also had the blessing of having breakfast with a young priest friend… very holy and making terrific sacrifices to serve the church and his family…very inspiring. Next a meeting with a friend and advisor who is helping me to make sure I  “run out of life before I run out of money”… an excellent man…holy and smart. Next I was able to speak with my older brother who lives in Arizona; he is concerned about the state of our country and world as I am…he loves the Lord and we were able to encourage each other to keep fighting the good fight of faith… we ended by expressing our love for one another. He is a good man. I had other discussions with kind and loving people who are taking care of their family, helping their friends, praying for the sick, for our church and country.

I guess the bottom line is that I’m so impressed with the people who I interact with each day… they are wonderful people. They love so many people each day…they show such kindness each day. God is so good to me to put these people in my daily path. I am so blessed. It’s important that I call this to mind so that I stay focused on the blessings of my life and not on the challenges and disappointments.

So, I encourage you to do a similar inventory of the people in your life…thanking God for each of them; take time to tell them how important they are to you….tell them thank you…tell them that you love them. Think about how diminished your life would be without them. 

We are so blessed to have friends. Thank you Lord for our friends. And by the way, I like dogs, but “dogs are really NOT man’s best friends”.