One More Day Alive

Last month, just a few weeks before Thanksgiving, I walked into a coffee shop I frequent and the ever-effervescent girl behind the counter was ashen face, with smears of wiped-away tears revealing what her brave face was otherwise trying to hide. She was in trouble.

“What’s wrong?” I asked sincerely and quietly, making sure we had a private moment.

“I can’t pay my rent this month, and I think my daughter and I will be kicked out of our apartment. I really don’t know what to do.” She went on to explain the personal series of unforeseen events that had led to a shortfall this month, almost too ashamed to elaborate.

Luckily I know a few things about how to get help in such situations. I told her to contact her local St. Vincent de Paul which assists those in short-term financial need with help paying their rents or mortgages as well as for utilities and groceries.

Things worked out. Thank God I asked. But what if I hadn’t? And what if she hadn’t told me?

A couple of years back, I wrote about the importance of asking for help. Since then the world has been turned upside down financially, and this Christmas there are even more people in need in this nation. If you are one of them, don’t be afraid, ashamed or just plain too shy to ask for help.

God wants you to get help if you need it. In fact, if you don’t ask, you are doing yourself, God and the rest of the world a big disservice.

Here’s why. Answer these simple questions: Do you enjoy helping others? Do you grow in your spirit and in your relationship with God and others when you help? Of course you do. What would happen to you if others never allowed you to help them? That would be denying you all the grace that you receive through loving others.

You should be proud of your need. Because it allows people to help you, and enables God to work through them in your life, bestowing grace upon them as well.

So if you don’t allow others to help you, you are denying them their access to that same grace. And the only way that others really know you need help is if you ask for it.

God created us to live in community with each other. He designed us to need each other. I am not smart enough to understand everything God did and does, but I do know what is in the Bible. And the idea that we are created in the image of God and that all human life is sacred and innately valuable is irrefutable.

If all that is true, do you think that God wants you to disrespect yourself or subject yourself to abuse? Denying yourself the love and support of others who God works through is not respecting yourself and others.

Now all of this is not a rubber stamp for all those children out there to spend the next couple of weeks nagging their parents for all the toys their hearts desire. I am clearly talking about those who are in true human need reaching out to others.

And that also doesn’t mean you cannot give at the same time as you receive in whatever way you can. Though you may not believe it right now, you reaching out may allow someone else to talk about their needs, to share with you their feelings or simply to cultivate a new relationship or deepen an old one in a way that will help that person now or in the future.

For instance, a few weeks later I rushed out of the house without my wallet — and the coffee was on the house.

Merry Christmas!

Anyone who would like to contribute to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul may do so by calling (602) 850-6737. Those needing help this Christmas can contact their local parish SVdP

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It’s that time of year again to rejoice in the coming of Christ, Who redeemed us from sin and offers eternal love.

It’s also when many “non-practicing” Catholics return to church for their annual visit out of tradition, family duty or habit, even though their hearts aren’t in it and some may be questioning the existence of God altogether.

Let’s all support them because you never know when that thread of faith will pull them up from the abyss of despair and ultimately inspire the rest of the world too.

Case in point: Anne Rice, the best-selling author of “Interview with the Vampire” and the “Vampire Chronicles,” had an amazing awakening after decades mired in despair and a career devoted to writing about the undead and the damned.

She recently shared a few thoughts with me about her rich Catholic upbringing and how suddenly in the summer of her 18th year, she inexplicably lost her faith. There was no major traumatic event; it just happened.

What followed was an extraordinary career writing the fictional accounts of a vampire named Lestat, a desperate soul searching for meaning in an eternity doomed to darkness. Rice married the love of her life, endured the horrible loss of her daughter to leukemia, then the miraculous birth of her son.

Faith rediscovered

But just as nothing made her lose her faith, nothing particular brought it back; the latter just happened — one day in December of 1998, right before Christmas.

“I wanted so desperately to get back to God,” revealed Rice. “I was running around so afraid and in such a state of despair for so long. I wanted to stop running from things and run to God.”

But Rice had struggled for years with “deep sociological questions.”

“How could I believe in God if so many bad things happened in the world?” explained Rice. “I wondered if the Church was right on one issue or another. Then I realized I didn’t need to know all the answers. All I needed to accept was that I loved God and wanted to reconnect with Him through the Church. I could surrender to Him in His infinite mercy. It wasn’t about avoiding questions; it was about love.”

She went to confession that day, and received holy Communion afterward. She remarried her husband in the Church. Soon her random loss and rediscovery of faith started to make some inspiring sense.

“Catholicism wasn’t just a religion for me,” said Rice, “it was a way of life. It influenced everything that I wrote even when I was away from the Church. I thought I was an atheist writing that book [“Interview with a Vampire”] but why did I write about someone who was grieving for loss? Why did I write about someone who was lost and searching? It was me searching for my faith, searching for what I had lost.”

That faith guided her, even when she was “lost,” and eventually led her back to the Church.

“When you grow up Catholic you feel that you have to be connected to the meaning of life,” said Rice.  “When you break away from your faith, you still have that yearning. I never lost my desire to understand what the point of my life was.”

Since then Rice has devoted her life and career to the Lord. In her recently released “Angel Time,” she examines redemption, hope and the merciful, healing love of Christ for a hit man who retains an ounce of faith and is pursued by an angel until he comes to his soul’s senses — an experience Rice identifies with metaphorically.

“Coming back to the Church allowed me to replace a quasi despair about everything with optimism. I am no longer running around every minute afraid. Now I don’t feel like I am running at all. I am calm yet driven. I feel like life is a celebration.”

Hopefully this holiday a few “lost” Catholics can take solace in Rice’s redemption and might even celebrate their own. Merry Christmas!

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It’s not about whether the glass is half full or half empty— it’s about the value of the glass. The glass of your life is always valuable.

That’s because we can fill it with opportunities to love and be loved.

As we face tough times this holiday season, maybe it’s important to remind ourselves of how special every single person we meet is, and how much they have made our lives worth living over the last year.

So here is a simple way to make a special gift that will help you to remember the most important gift of all – each other!

A. First, go rummage around your house for an old vase or glass jar that you have always liked but that doesn’t get enough use.

B. Then between now and Christmas you and every member of your family answer one of these five simple questions below each day on a slip of paper and place it in the jar.

1. Who do you love and why are they special to you?
2. What’s the nicest thing anybody did for you today or this week and how did it inspire you?
3. What’s the kindest thing you did for anybody else today or this week? How has helping that person helped you?
4. What is something you saw somebody else do today or this week to help someone else that filled your heart with happiness?
5. Who loves you and how do they show it? How has their love and support changed your life?

C. On Christmas day after all the other presents are opened take down the jar and start reading all the wondrous ways that you all have loved and been loved, and it will be the greatest Christmas gift of all.

Then keep the glass out somewhere for the rest of the year in plain site where it will always remind you of all the love you have now and long after the holiday season is past.

Now email this along to at least five people this holiday to remind them too!

Then go fill up your glass with all the reminders of God’s mysterious spirit of love.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Go to www.OneMoreDayAlive.com all this month where you will discover more FREE inspirations from with Chris Benguhe’s latest book.

Learn why tough times might be a window to the best times of your life!
GIVE THE GIFT OF JOY!
Best-Selling inspirational author DEEPAK CHOPRA declares “Chris Benguhe eloquently reveals the secrets to finding joy during hardships.”
Overcoming Life’s 7 Common Tragedies: Opportunities for Discovering God By CHRIS BENGUHE (Buy the book at Amazon link below)
One more day alive – it’s a miracle for everyone.
Because even the worst of times are windows to the best, and out of pain and struggle come inspiration and hope!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809143917?ie=UTF8&tag=beyondtragedy-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0809143917

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