Followers

When I was on a Summer retreat with my 8^th grade class, I remember our leader asking everyone to divide up into two groups. If you considered yourself a leader, we moved to one side of the room. If you thought you were a follower, you moved to the other side of the room. I “followed” my friends to the leader’s side. I was only there for a moment when laughter broke out.  Everyone knew what a joke it was that I would see myself as a leader. In humiliation, I lowered my head and walked to the other side of the room where I belonged.

 I do not remember what this grouping lesson was all about but I do remember that it was a turning point for me. I was forced to define myself as a follower. Being a follower, I believed, was synonymous with being weak and a coward.  That could not have been further from the truth! What I did not know is that I was given this wonderful gift and a huge responsibility. Goodness, how hard can it be to be a follower? LOL. Actually, if you look around your school, work and neighborhood, you will see that it is VERY difficult! My hefty responsibility was to choose who and what I was going to follow and my choices as a child and teenager were not the cream of the crop. 

As a young Catholic homeschool mom, naturally, my posse was full of Catholic homeschool mom’s. Let me tell you, I feel like I am standing neck deep in the most abundant and fertile (yes, the pun is intended) crops. “Cream” of the crop is an understatement. You may feel this way in whatever walk of life you are in right now. I walk the life of a Catholic homeschooler. It doesn’t matter what direction I turn my head, I have someone there to follow, to emulate, admire, respect, adore, etc. The vice I struggle with is the other adjectives to add to the list….to be jealous of, to covet,  envy, to feel inadequate and inferior to.  Where there is a virtue, there is a vice. I have 2 choices. I can rise up, take what I learn from my fellow moms and be a better person or I can feel inadequate and give up. Hmmm. I think I know which choice is the right one. It is so difficult! I find myself giving up all the time and then pulling myself out of the rut. Taking so long to write my next blog is a good example. I read my friend’s blog’s and think that I could never measure up so why bother. The truth is, is that I will never measure up no matter what so what am I going to do about it? I know! I’ll crawl in the corner and die there. Well, that won’t work. The kids will keep pulling me out to feed them. I do not believe that I would be a very happy person. There MUST be another option.

Here is the option…..I have to embrace my “following” quality and get back on the boat. One gift that I have that I feel tops everyone else is that I am very good and picking the right people to follow. I might as well share this gift with youJ

Here is a short list of who I follow. I'm not going to embarrass my friends by calling them out by name. I am only going to include people that you can follow too.  This is not intended to be just an acknowledgment of their greatness….as great as I think they are. I just want you all to feel as inadequate as I do. LOL. NO, NO! I want you to feel as INSPIRED as I do to be a better wife, mom, Catholic, homeschooler, child of God, a better YOU.

http://www.solesearchingmamma.com/

This is my friend, Susan Husband. Along with having 5 boys,, she finds time to blog about her life and what she has learned and contemplated through her soul searching. You know how all of us mom's think too much, especially when we are alone? Oh, is that just me? Well, she is a very fit and beautiful woman inside and out. As she does her daily jog, she compiles all of her idea's, thoughts and memories of her family life and puts them in her amazing blog.

http://catholicicing.com/

Well, this is just about the most creative mom on the planet. How she finds time or even interested in doing all of these crafts is beyond me. I'm ready for a nap just by thinking about doing one more craft with my kids. Oh, how I miss being a young mom. I miss that energy and excitement about just being a mom. With this website, I don't have to think anymore! Yay! She does it for me and I can give my kids lasting memories with one craft at a time.

https://www.facebook.com/JasonandCrystalinaEvert?ref=ts&fref=ts

This is Jason and Crystalina Evert. They give chastity and purity talks to teens around the world. They changed my life and the life of my teenager and the lives of thousands of young people in how we are to look at sex, dating, marriage and true love.

 

http://duggarsblog.blogspot.com/

Now, here's a mom that can make the whole world feel inadequate. As we all repeatedly say that we can't handle the 2 kids that we have, Michelle Duggar is successfully raising 19 kids and has NEVER had to raise her voice. The angrier she gets, the more she softens her voice. She is my hero.

In my regular, day to day life, there are many people that I talk to. I have homeschool mom's and their kids, my parents, my kids, my priest and fellow church members. I have my fellow bus employers and the students. Everyone is different and in drastically different walks of life but everyone has something to offer me and inspire me with. I don't just have to search out the people with all the same value's, principles and faith that I have. Each and every person have gifts that are surpass my own. Each and every person can inspire me in some way. God is so good...