Fortification. It doesn’t happen on its own.
Last week I talked a little bit to you about testimonies. We often think of living testimonies, the story you share throughout your life of God’s works, and while I’ve been meditating about these for the past few weeks, I’ve started also deeply reflecting on our lasting testimonies, that is, our complete life. When we’re gone, what will the fruit of our life say about how we lived it? What generational blessings or curses will we leave behind? How does our life reflect our newfound sainthood in heaven and can it justify (capital “S”) Sainthood? If you keep up with me on my personal instagram, you saw that I recently look a trip to Ireland and Scotland with my two roommates. I will never forget that trip for so many reasons. While I was on it, I could not help but praise God for the women that were with me, and ponder how dear that experience actually was because it’s not often you get to travel the globe with your two best friends in your twenties. The details of the trip is a story for another time, but I bring it up because while I was there, we got to explore both the Irish and Scottish countrysides. We passed incomparable scenery of rolling hills, mountains, and fields with little sheep sprinkled throughout all of them. What caught my eye most of all were these fences, and not your standard American white picket fences to keep in your livestock, no, these were centuries old stone walls built by the families who lived there thousands of years ago. Our bus driver/tour guide was giving us such interesting tidbits about their country’s history. They shared that the families would build these fences by hand together. The men would lay the foundation by moving and using large stones, and the women and children would fortify it by finishing it off, stacking smaller stones between each crevice. Huh, I thought. Without the men laying the foundation, the women and children would have nothing to fortify, and without the women and children fortifying the stones with smaller ones, the fence wouldn’t still be standing today. This made me think about the legacy I will leave behind, or even what kind of legacy I want to create. What am I doing right now that is building up a metaphorical fence that will last 3,000 years and older? The fact of the matter is…nothing. Nothing I do by my own power will ever last that long.
My dad told me a few years ago while I was seriously discerning religious life, not to be tempted to think it would be the easier option than marriage. He said, “Your husband may frustrate you to no end some days, but if you join religious life there is going to be that one sister in the convent that does the same, but it is all for your own testing and purification”. The truth is that each vocation is deeply rooted in union and community (even religious life and consecrated singles.) We were not meant to live this life alone. We were not meant to build alone. Nothing I build on my own will have the lasting affect that I hope it to have, but with the help of the Lord and the people God has placed in each season of my life there is a better chance of it lasting.
I used to think as soon as I had every single piece of my life put together, then the Lord would bless me with my spouse, and while I still strive for holiness and order in this season of singleness, I am coming to believe more and more that sanctification will never ever happen on your own. There is only so much self reflection one can do when your only perspective is looking straight on into the center of the mirror. We need more eyes on us. We need new perspectives, but they will never be ones we cans easily get views of for ourselves. We need someone else to tip the microscope. Why? Because, we can act all self aware and read self help books and even reflect in prayer the parts of us that need sanctification, but we have become blind to so many parts of ourselves that only others can see. This was evident on my day trip spending 12 straight days with the same two girls. What happened? Parts of myself were revealed through their presence, and vice-versa. Virtues and vices alike. I realized things about myself that I wouldn’t have had I been alone. I was given opportunities for holiness and sanctification that I wouldn’t have had had I been alone, and I created opportunities for holiness in those girls because Lord knows I am not perfect person to be around all the time. It’s the responses that we emit in these eye-opening moments that we are able to build lasting love and habits that will carry onto others and so on and so forth that the legacy we’ve been talking about is finally evident. Whether we are currently living in our vocation or not. The fruit of the spirit of selflessness is abundant, but can easily be overtaken by a spirit of selfishness.
Saint Mother Theresa said “If you want to change the world, go home and love your families. It’s this sacrificial love that fortifies a family’s bond. A Christian influencer I admire recently said, “what the devil cannot kill, he will exhaust.” and I have felt that so deeply in so many ways. To be completely transparent and vulnerable with you, I am exhausted. Exhausted of trying to fix myself rather than letting the spirit heal me and and the people placed in my life purify me. Exhausted of carrying the desire to build something lasting when I am not strong enough to carry the cornerstone. However, I will not let exhaustion overtake me, rather I will persevere and allow my friends to fortify in me the foundational stones that the Spirit has already laid. I will allow them to edify me, just as I hope they will accept edification from me. What are friends for other than to edify you? How will they help us build a legacy and help you become Saint? Do they let you deteriorate in your faith, or do they build you up with a kingdom mindset that translates to eternal life? I’m looking to do do damage for the Kingdom of God. Though this world may pass away, I want to build a legacy that will last through generations. I want to be a little stone, maybe not big as the foundational stone, but just as important to the lasting integrity of the structure. What does a fence even do? It separates, and it protects. That is what I want for my future family’s legacy. I want to be to separated, set apart, from the ways of this world, holy and blameless in the sight of God. I want to be protected, purified, and covered my the blood of Jesus Christ so that when trials and storms do come, my fence is still standing for generations saying “I am still here, look at what the Lord has built through us.” Jesus, I surrender.
Here some relevant bible verses that came to mind and were helpful to me for this week’s reflection:
Daniel 7:25
“He shall speak against the most high and wear out the saints of the most high…”
Matthew 24:35
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
2 Peter 3:10-13
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire… But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”Psalm 102:25-27
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment… But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”Daniel 2:44
“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people.”Ephesians 6:10-11
“Draw your strength from the Lord and His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.”
Galatians 6:2
“Carry each others burdens and in this way fulfill the law of Christ.
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore, thus says the Lord God: See, I am laying a stone in Zion, a stone that has been tested, A precious cornerstone as a sure foundation; whoever puts faith in it will not waver.”
Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”