Some Days are Diamonds. Some Days are Stone.

Today I just want to say, as John Denver once sang it, "Some days are diamonds, some days are stone". We have good days and bad days. Some are better than others and some are much worse than others.

When Jesus physically walked the earth, He had good and bad days too. The difference between Jesus and us is that His bad days didn't cause Him to sin. Some times our "days of stone" cause us to sin. We are weak and when tempted by anger, we can fall into sin. Jesus was without sin. He was tempted just like us, but he didn't lose to temptations.

With Jesus as our model, we can ask Him for the grace and strength to fight, and win, against our temptations. Through this Lenten season, I'm learning that one of the best places to start when we are tempted is to become aware of how we are thinking and then exercise self-control and self-discipline, and ask Jesus to help us.

Of course, on bad days, that can be difficult. It is often much easier to get angry or frustrated and give in to sin. But then, I don't know about you, but I get that "icky" feeling inside and I know I've sinned, and I know I've disappointed Jesus, so then what was once easy, now becomes difficult.

I am also finding that going to Mass and confession often gives me extra strength when the temptations come. Also, praying as much as possible helps too, as well as reading Scripture.

The world throws so much garbage at us, doesn't it? Temptations surrounds us almost constantly. We have to diligently guard our souls and ask Jesus, Mary, our angels, the saints, and St. Michael to help us out.

Diamonds sparkle beautifully. We have to remember that diamonds were once ugly little tidbits in the ground. Once excavated and polished up, they shine so wonderfully.

Just so, Jesus can take our days of stone and shine them up so that they twinkle like diamonds. Maybe it might not seem like our days are sparkling when we are walking through them, but if we are open to the Holy Spirit, in hindsight, we can see some good that came out of them, even if it is just a lesson learned so tomorrow will be a bit more shiney.