Blessed be the Name of the Lord

It’s a mom thing that we do, we mom-bloggers – we like to brag on our kids. When they get a great new job, or score well on an exam, get their dream part in a play, etc. And I love reading other mom’s brag-posts! It is truly a delight to rejoice with those who rejoice. What I need to brag about today, however, is a little bit different. It’s not the kind of thing that makes you want to throw a blog party. But it is something for which I’m deeply, profoundly thankful, and I can truly see the hand of God working through these events.

My daughter Megan has been working for the last couple of years at our parish school as an after care aid, as well as filling in with the Pre-K and Kindergarten classes as needed, and has developed a passion for teaching little ones. She is in the process of completing her degree in early education, while continuing work in after-care, and I am tremendously proud of her energy, her perseverance, her determination to work her way through with as little debt as possible, and even more, for how well she is spoken of by her colleagues and supervisors, and for how beloved she is by the students with whom she works. She is dynamic and funny, strong-willed and witty, beautiful and multi-talented, and what mother wouldn’t burst with pride!  Beyond that, she has a devout faith and witness that she shares beautifully – especially with her little siblings, as well as sharing her musical gifts in the choir at the 5pm mass each Sunday.

And yet, all these blessings are not what drive me to write this post today. Today I am compelled to give thanks for the grace and quiet strength my daughter has shown over the course of several years in the face of not one, not two, but three separate incidents of being viciously slandered by bitter, malicious liars in three different faith communities, including both Evangelicals and Catholics. Until recently, I didn’t even know about any of this. She has suffered quietly under these character assassinations, time after time, holding her head high despite being shunned again and again by those who she thought were friends, who instead eagerly ate those juicy morsels of gossip and passed them on. Without complaint, she simply kept moving forward, trusting that God knows best and has a plan for her life.

When I learned the extent of the damage that had been done, it took me a long time to process the white-hot helpless rage that filled my mother’s heart. I wanted to hurt several people. I wanted to publicly humiliate them, and castigate their families and everybody who ever listened to their malicious slander. Righteous indignation, I had aplenty. It took me some time to simmer down and recognize the beauty and wisdom my daughter had shown in patiently bearing with this unjust hurt. She has waited on the Lord for her vindication, and she knows that he will never fail her, never leave her or forsake her. He is her champion! Like Job, she has born these sorrows, confident that Christ can restore to her what was lost and more, in his perfect time. And in the meantime, he is enough. 

So today I am thankful. Thankful that God has given such grace in adversity, and thankful for the lesson it has taught me, that whether in joys or in sorrow, in all things we can say “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

James 3: 17-18
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure;
then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.