IT'S THE SMALL THINGS
I write this on the twelfth of December – the feast day of our Lady of Guadalupe. While I have always been aware about our Lady, and know a few devout devotees to her, I was never awakened to her presence and power until I lived the last two and a half years in Mexico. Perhaps one of the greatest parts of my time there was being in close proximity to her Basilica, and having the opportunity to visit Her whenever I wanted to. Living in a country so far away from home, being surrounded by people who shared in the same faith was not only comforting, it consoled my loneliness and homesickness many times over. Finding solace in prayer always works, but when one surrenders to a higher power, truly, everything falls into place.
This year saw my highest of highs, and my lowest of lows. When it rained, it poured – in blessings, and in trying times. And in the peaks and valleys of those extremes, faith played a most crucial role in tiding me through. Oftentimes, we turn to prayer out of desperation, that we forget to give thanks. Many times over, even if we pray everyday, we tend to prioritize what we need at that particular moment, versus looming desires. But if there is anything at all I truly learned this year, it is that in surrendering fully, those you pray to know what is in the deepest depths of your heart even without your vocalizing it. And it was in the midst of a most unexpected time when I found myself to be blessed with what is perhaps the biggest blessing my life has known to date.
In the middle of a tumultuous time, Our Lady blessed me with a son. While I pray to many others, I know in my heart that she had a big hand in this because I literally found myself on my knees many times this year, in Her presence, just asking her to see me through, and make me understand what the meaning of all the trials that were passing me by were. And while I may never figure out in my lifetime the “why’s” of it all, I now know that though some questions will always remain unanswered, we must never question God’s will, in the same way that we never second guess his blessings.
At the end of the day, God’s timing will always be the most perfect. And even if we may find ourselves unready and overwhelmed at times, we must always look back at what has led us to this very hour. In the same way that we cling on to faith, our Lord, our Lady, and all who we pray to will continue to hold our hands in the same way that we have gotten this far. So today and always, let this be a reminder that even in the darkest of days, our prayers are heard. And when they are answered, it might not always be in the way we are expecting it to be, but that God does so in the way He knows is best for us.