For my yoke is easy and my burden is light
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 
Says our Lord but He doesn't mean that this will be the case if you do not go His way in life. The verse in context say, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
If we choose not to go His way, or live life in a way contrary to Him and His goodness, our life can turn out quite the opposite. Jesus promises that yes we will have rest in Him and this is always true. He promises that His way will not be as burdensome as the world's way. Jesus's yoke is light, oh but the world's is extremely heavy.
There are two ways in which we can go. One is of the world and the other is of Christ! One promises death, destruction, confusion, and heavy burdens. And the other, well you have read the verse and know what Christ has said. "For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:14)
As Christians (the baptized in the Trinity) and chosen, adopted children of God, we are called to take the way of Christ. Sadly there are too many of us who do not! We can know that clearly when meditating on the words of Christ when He says there are few who find the road to life. And further when He says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
Today I am writing this from the perspective of someone who has chosen the wide road and the opposing way of Christ in my life. I do not write this as a complaint of my life, or to be ungrateful for everything God has done for me in my life. He has loved me even though I did not love Him, He has blessed me even though I turned my back to Him, He has taught me by sending me His Holy Spirit, He has kicked my ass by His permissive Will, but if it were not for all that I would not be the person that I am today. Thanks be to God!
Sometimes you need to fall flat on your face (my personal metaphor) to know who God is and why His plan for us is so very important. I admit right now with you, that I did not know what I had, until I lost it, I did not know God, until He removed His presence from me. Seems paradoxical and it is!
I am writing this as my own personal account, and if God Wills it maybe my children will read this one day and understand. If so I want to say to them, I love you very much and always have. I am sorry for my sins, I am sorry that they have hurt you, I am sorry that things got as bad as they did. Please know that I have been doing everything in my power to Live My Best Life Now, which is my new motto that I began a few years ago from writing this.
My old motto was "today I will be better than I was yesterday" you may remember that. This is still my motto but best life now says a lot more about where I am at in my journey. And I will spend the rest of my life making up for everything that I have done to offend God and you, the best people in my life. You deserved a mom who was practicing her faith, and living a holy life. You deserved parents who are united in one faith, you deserved to be born of marriage. You deserve parents who can lead you by example in the way of conduct and holiness. I hope that you can see how we have tried, and how we love you.
But like I said I have no regrets and I have come to learn many years ago now, that regret is from the devil. Therefore I do not regret my life or my family, or any mistakes that I have made, God has blessed me with two beautiful, smart children and they are they best things that I have ever done. And I believe that everything happens for a reason and all things must be accepted as the Will of God! Every person, every situation is allowed by God for our Sanctification. Not that God Wills harm should come to us, but that through everything good or bad The Holy Spirit is teaching us. It may be that the lesson comes in the form of pain, suffering, and despair, but that is what we bring on ourselves and our children (whether that be future or present) when we choose not to follow God. Something I hope no one has to experience but sadly I know many will.
This article is a warning of sorts to those who may come across it and God Willing! Today I was thinking of a passage and about my life. We had a bad day at the house again yesterday and I was yet again faced with feelings of despair. In the past I have gotten there and stayed there for years. Those closest to me know this well. These are the times I learned the hardest lessons like on regret which I mentioned already. Not that I would have preferred to know things that way, but that is the path that I chose. The path Christ warned us about, but lovingly forgives us for if we want to be forgiven that is. That is what the cross is all about!
He tells the Apostles and us, "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:32-33)
Some translation say trouble instead of "persecution" But Christ's message is the same in the world we will have trouble, persecution, tribulation, for nothing other than being a follower of Christ. The real tragedy in this life however is that, when we do not follow Christ and His way for our lives, we will have that trouble plus, all of the troubles of the world that come when we do not do The Will of God in our lives! Jesus explains why in the previous chapter, "If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19)
Certainly as we see here, Christ does not promise an easy life, or a life free from trouble to those who take up their cross and follow Him, but He promises that when we follow Him and His way for our life, He will give us rest. When we go the worlds way, I am here to say there is no rest! Here is something interesting that I want to add in right now. For half my life I heard and used the saying "no rest for the weary" you may have heard, or maybe not. But then this last part of my life consisting of many years all I hear is "no rest for the wicked" and my husband noticed too.
I don't know if there are two sayings or if something was added to the matrix, but I think both sayings hold true. There is no rest for anyone who is of the world, it is Jesus who gives us rest now and the final rest in heaven! Ok, now to the passage that I was thinking about and inspired to write this article.
"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said," (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)
This verse has to do with the people you choose to be around and also the person you choose to raise children with. We certainly can be friendly, and kind to all people regardless of our differences. But I think this verse is talking on a personal level, and a fellowship basis. Now, I am not saying that I do not love my husband, or that I feel in some way that we are not together for a reason. Remember no regrets and everything happens for a reason? This is also not to be disrespectful to him in any way at all. I am simple using my life as an example of Christ's message. God tells us why this is important in the next verses.
“I will live in them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Therefore come out from them,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch nothing unclean;
then I will welcome you,
and I will be your father,
and you shall be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
(1 Cor 6:17,18)
God is telling us that we need to have unity with the people close to us, especially with someone who has the responsibility of raising children with. And why? Because when we do, and we are living a life worthy of Christ, God will walk among us, He will be our God (meaning we will do His Will) He will be our Father, and His sons and daughters. Therefore He instructs us to have nothing of significant to do with unbelievers, and those who are not in unity with us.
So now let me ask you what do you think that disunity, and being unevenly yoked will do in the home? Disunity breeds confusion, suffering and despair. These things do not come from God! In a marriage that is not united to God and a shared faith in Him, you cannot count on God walking with you through it. You cannot count on Him being your God because you will not do His Will in your life. In fact if we are not interested in doing the Will of God, in our lives we will soon forget about Him. Even to the point of denying Him. "but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:33)
I am not saying that a mixed marriage will never work, because with God anything is possible. But honestly it is not a good idea! And if you really take the time to look into it and see examples of this around you, you will see people who have lost their faith, and are to weary to fight for it, or you will see a miracle conversion. But a conversion to your Catholic faith will not happen if you loose your faith in the process. And once you have children you will suffer emotionally, as well as spiritually, and will grieve the loss of what could have been.
Unless you are a super strong person and can keep a strong faith among confusion, arguments over how to raise the children, where to go to Church or whether to go at all, how God should be worshipped, will your kids be baptized, whether or not to read the bible together or pray together as a family, etc.. you will not survive it, anger and resentment will ensues. You may even grow to hate each other, and God does not want that! And what do you think happens in a home when there is disunity, hate, anger, despair, resentment, and confusion? And it is the children who are victims, it is them who will suffer the most, and may even be repelled by faith in Christ all together! You will be jeopardizing their salvation! Stop here and think about that, it is the plight of many homes.
But all of this can be avoided if we just follow God and His way! Yes we will have trouble like Christ said but it won't be those problems. And then your kids will grow in unity, and faith. Your kids will at least have that good example to look forward to in their own marriages. Your kids will see and know that their parents love each other. They will grow up knowing who they are and they will learn how to deal with the struggles of life. And if they fall away from the faith and follow the world if you have instilled these values in them, they will come back. "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray." (Proverbs 22:6)
Certainly God can do great things and He does all the time. I have heard so many conversion stories about those who lived in such disunity and strife, yet came to faith in Christ and His Church. But you can save God a lot of trouble if you just do His Will to begin with. Not too mention you will be doing the very best you can for your children. And raise your kids to do the same, not just in word but in example. So we must never stop praying for our kids! let St. Monica be our model of this. This women was faced with much difficulty in an arranged married life. And she prayed for her son Augustine for over a decade and he is the Great Saint Augustine! If you would like to know more you should start with the Confessions of St. Augustine.
There will be some happy times as well, I am here to say there is hope. Anytime you choose to submit to the Will of God, there is hope. It is following the world where there is no hope. I am here to help others learn about how to better serve God and live His message. And when we do this I know there is an abundance of happiness, and peace which is most important factor in happiness. I have seen both sides and there is yet more to come as long as I am faithful to Him. I just really want people to think about this. Something else I also learned, some of the very most important decisions in life are usually thought out, the very least. Why is that?
God knows, but this brings us back to Sacred Scripture, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me." (Romans 7:15-20)
We can all relate to that passage, don't you think? I know I can. If you are like me and your kids are growing up, take your faith seriously. It is never too late to fix things, it is just going to take time. Don't waste years of your life worrying about it either, just do it! You can live your best life right now. But if you don't take your faith seriously, no one else will, not your family either. This goes for your spouse as well. You will also be happier too! No one is going to be happy forgetting God, or the fact that they are a child of God. Happiness is found in doing the Will of God, and in nothing else.
We are all on a unique journey and I know in a lot of ways I am just getting started. One thing I know is the time goes by whether we are happy or not, in Christ or not, striving for holiness or not. I think the important thing is that we work on it every day. Every day we make a lot of choices and at every second of every day is an opportunity to praise God, thank God and do the Will of God!
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