Three Little Pigs

First of all, I appologize that there was no post yesterday, I fell asleep on the couch at 8 pm after my son went to bed! Pretty sad, I know! Anyway, I will use yesterdays gospel this morning and post another tonight.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” Mt 7:24-27

This story always makes me think of the story of the three little pigs. I always felt bad for those first two pigs. I bet they were so proud of their houses, they spent so much time and energy building them only to be blown down by that mean wolf.  Sometimes we have the best intentions, just like those little pigs did, and Jesus doesn't want to insult our little houses, but simply help us to be prepared and give us what we need for the difficult times. When my husband and I were dealing with the loss of our children, I know that we survived it because our marriage was built on our Rock, our God and Father. And it was a reminder to us that we needed to stick close to that foundation of our faith, that would hold us through anything. During this season of Advent it's also a reminder that our houses, the things that are important to us on earth, won't last, but our Rock always will. If we place our trust in him when the weather is nice then our faith will sustain us when the winds come (or the mean wolf starts blowing.) I'm always reminded that its extremely difficult to build during a storm, so often we wait until the difficult times come to pray or develop a relationship with God, but if we would focus more on setting our hearts on his foundation during the good times, then we will be ready to face whatever the wolf has to throw at us.