One Changed Life

“For I the Lord do not change.”  Malachi 3:6

How’s your Lent?  It’s a great feeling to get to this point in the season and recognize tangible ways our changes and sacrifices have allowed us to detach from our will a little.  As we dive deep into the last weeks of Lent it’s a good time to ask ourselves, “WHY did I give that up?” or “WHY did I make that change?”  I recently heard a priest point out that often our Lenten plans are very self focused.  He challenged his listeners to think beyond themselves and make some changes that had a positive effect on someone else.  Then he spoke this powerful line…
“One changed life, always changes another!”  If we are going to be the people of service we are called to be,  this line is mighty motivation.  I have heard the powerful story of three people this Lent who made a change in their life and it changed another.  I share their stories to inspire us to do some great things to finish out this Lent.

*Adjusting your schedule to give the gift of time changes things. Lent opens our hearts to receive gifts from the Lord as we free ourselves from habits and distractions that allow us more time to get closer to Him.  Tonight I saw one of these gifts.  When I made time as a Lenten commitment to visit a very old woman in assisted living, she quickly became my friend.  But tonight she kissed me goodbye and said she would pray for me and at that moment I felt my mom in her embrace (my mom died 40 years ago when she and I were both too young to lose each other).  God is good and beautiful and works in mysterious ways. I am looking forward to our visits long after Lent has passed!!  One changed life always changes another! 

* Changing my perspective was a game changer!  I’ve been politely angry at God for twenty years for a lousy marriage and entering my sixties divorced and childless.  All I could do was count the pains, injustices and shortfalls of my life.  This Lent I asked God to change  my broken heart and swap my list of pains for a list of joys.  I told him I would change my anger if he would put someone in my path who needed my love.  It was a tall order but a powerful wave of trust and peace washed over me as Fr. traced the ashen cross on my forehead on Ash Wednesday.  The next day a single mother and her two pre-teen daughters moved in next door.  Long story short, I have three new friends who needed my love, my support, my help and my skills as a retired teacher.  I help with homework, we share dinner together three nights a week and I marvel at how easy it was to change from anger to joy.  One changed life always changes another!  

* I began last Lent in the middle of a bitter, unhappy marriage.  It seemed like every time my husband walked into the room all I could do was think about how much more I gave to the relationship and how unappreciated and taken for granted I felt.  I sought counsel from a wise friend who told me the only thing I could control was myself and that “gratitude covered a multitude of sins.”  After prayer and googling a lot of Catholic marriage talks I decided to change my attitude.  Instead of keeping “score”, I started keeping a gratitude list about my husband.  The first few days the list was pretty small but as Lenten days passed, I began to notice and appreciate so many things I had been too bitter to see.  I also began to pray for him every day and as the bitterness and selfishness in my heart began to disappear, our love, laughter and faithfulness completely changed.  One changed life always changes another! 

Lent is a time to change our hearts, attitudes and actions…he’s inviting us to change not just for ourselves but for another of his children and just maybe he’s inviting someone to make a change that will bless us.  Don’t fear the change because no matter how much things swirl around us; his love never changes!
A Seed To Plant:  Spend some time in prayer this week asking the Father to show you where you can make a change that will change another.​

Blessings on your day!