Horton or Mayzie?

Today, for the first time in many months, I attended our parish's Human Dignity committee. Our goal (to me anyway) is to keep the dignity of all life on the minds of the parishioners. We do things like field a bus for the March for Life, book and staff a time slot for 40 Days for Life , and host collections for pregnancy resource centers. There are also members who pray the rosary at the elderly high rises and other things I'm too tired to remember right now.

I think, last check, there are fewer than 20 official members. There were five of us at the meeting tonight. Sometimes that depresses me but other times, like tonight, I'm just sort of OK with it all. Like the death of Justice Scalia and the upcoming presidential election, I can't get myself worked up. I have a blessed peace that it is truly beyond all of our control. Only God can right this nation so we might as well let Him know we have turned fully to Him for help. Not being discouraged or giving up hope...knowing in Whom our hope should rest.

I like our small meetings because they end on time or even a bit early. I got home just after evening prayer had begun so I was able to finish with them. After, I usually get ready for bed or do some work and DH makes his rounds to the boys' room, then girls'; reading books, telling stories, singing songs, and coaxing everyone to sleep. That's his time with them and I'm grateful, after having been with them all day, that I get a little breather.

Tonight was different. DH was home because of the holiday and freezing rain had begun as I was heading home from my meeting. If we were buttoned up inside it wouldn't matter but it's also trash night. I didn't want DH to spend an hour putting people to bed then get outside when the weather was worse. So, I volunteered to read the girls their story and put them to bed. They are currently working on Six by Seuss and tonight's tale was

It's the story of a bird (Mayzie) who sits on her egg a while and then decides she'd rather do something more exciting so she convinces Horton to sit in her place while she flies off on vacation ("just for a little while"...until she decides never to come back). Horton agrees and remains faithful to the egg-sitting through many adversities (bad weather, hunters, being sold to a circus). When the touring circus reaches her beach, Mayzie reunites with Horton just as the egg begins to hatch. That is the cue for Mayzie to demand Horton, who has been "faithful, one hundred percent", leave the nest and her egg immediately. Ultimately, it's a children's story so justice prevails...the bird looks like Horton with wings.

I can't really read Dr. Seuss anymore without seeing it from a pro-life point of view and, having just been to the human dignity meeting tonight and 40 days vigil yesterday, it seemed well, ahem, more than perfect. The Holy Spirit is always hooking me up like that. God knows my brain is tired and needs GIANT BLINKING NEON SIGNS sometimes.

So, it's simple. We have to choose...will we be Horton or will we be Mayzie? Will we make decisions in our life then end up with consequences that seem good for a while but ultimately feel like too much bother and give in to our desire for the easy road? Will we choose to be faithful, no matter how our toes freeze or how many times people try to shoot at us? Each of us needs to make this decision for ourselves. 

Make no mistake, though, this is life and not a Dr. Seuss story. We may choose to be Horton, sitting faithfully day after day and at the end of it all, Mayzie may swoop in and grab all the glory. It's maddening and frustrating but it's really OK. The glory, fame and power here mean nothing. We need to be faithful, regardless of what or whom the world's outcome favors. It's not about us and it's not about the world. It's about the One Who Is, Was, and Will Be Forever. 

So, even though there is a drawer full of potty treats behind me (it's really dumb to try to potty-train during Lent, you know?) I will be Horton tonight. I will offer my deep desire for a Good and Plenty and pray instead for peace in a family that has asked for prayers or that the weather will keep an abortion-minded mother home tomorrow...long enough for God to work a miracle in her life through some other channel.

Our lives don't have to be grand gestures. If we try to faithfully live each decision of each day, we will achieve our goal. Isn't it nice to know that our difficult choices can benefit so many others? Isn't it nice to know that, beyond the noise and worry of society, it can really be this simple?

 We are blessed.