Offer It Up!

I was having a crummy morning. I slept poorly which is always a guarantee of an emotionally exhausting day unless I can squeeze in a nap. So in my overtired state, all it took was one little thing to go wrong before I cracked. I took my son (the one who had the surgery) back to the pediatrician, our beloved pediatrician, an excellent Catholic family man, father of nine, who always quizzes my children about the particular feast day (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton today) and reminds them to obey their parents, eat their vegetables and exercise for 60 minutes each day. It was just supposed to be a quick follow-up appointment after his surgery to make sure his healing was on track. Joe was grumbling because after spending five days of his Christmas break in the hospital, the last thing he wanted to do was to go to the doctor again, and I reminded him that it wasn't exactly my favorite pastime either, and that I also had to give up my plans to volunteer at the Apostleship of Prayer to take him to the doctor. How quickly we fall from gratitude for successful surgery and the love and prayers of friends and family to complaining! Yikes! We've got out spiritual work cut out for us, that's for sure!

When we arrived at the clinic I was told that our insurance company didn't renew their contract with the medical group and so our office visit would not be covered by the insurance. Shock! I didn't recall receiving a letter telling me about this very important change! But good and wonderful Dr. Swietlik said he would not charge us for this visit and we had our follow-up appointment after all. But now I'm sad because we have to find a new pediatrician and I am irritated because I spent an hour on the phone with the insurance company trying to decide who might be an adequate replacement for Dr. Swietlik. You know how they make you talk to a computer for half an hour before you can even talk to a real person? And let me just confess that once I finally got to talk to a real person my rude and grouchy attitude probably didn't do much to make her day pleasant, either. Joe is doing fine, by the way, so really, I ought to only be happy about my son's health instead of griping about all of these other issues, but you know, like I said at the beginning of this post,I'm tired, so that's my lame excuse for digging right into the negativity.

Anyway, it was Joe at Defend Us In Battle who unwittingly came to the rescue! He had a link on his most recent post to this awesome YouTube video that he made. I had seen this before and loved it, and possibly even linked to it a few months back, but I had no idea it was his creation! After watching it I feel much better and have my priorities firmly back in place. I especially love the picture in his video of the Handmaid of the Precious Blood in adoration. (It was from Joe's blog that I first learned about the Handmaids, so thank you very much Joe for connecting me with that wonderful group!)

Are you also feeling overtired, weepy and irritable? Watch this! Rejoice in your Catholic faith! Embrace it! Soon you'll feel better and be able to get right back to the work of offering up your days as a prayer for the good of souls without all that grumbling getting in the way of your goodness! We are Catholic, after all, and that's what Catholics do best! Offer it up!