Sabbath Moments
Awareness of God
Welcome to Colleen’s Saturday meme. How about joining us at Thoughts on Grace?
Ah mothers.
Aren’t we a great?
Always running around serving,
Acting like a combination of Martha and Mary.
A+ Mums, right?
Think again.
When we refuse to give up control, we shut out the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact we end up acting just like vacuum cleaners when it is God’s job to purify our family in His power, mercy and grace. He needs us to simply be conduits of his Love. It is by Christ’s suffering that mothers and their families are healed, not by the mother acting like the sacrificial lamb or the scapegoat of the Old Testament.
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
As a mother, I am wired to work emotionally just like a vacuum cleaner,sucking up all my children’s pain. Likewise, my children are compassionate vacuum cleaners as well, who attract other people’s negative emotions. They are all aware that they learned this dysfunctional behaviour not only from observing Michael and me in action but also because they have inherited this trait from both of us.
This problem, The Vacuum Cleaner Syndrome, is a difficult disease to cure. As my daughter and fellow vacuum cleaner, Katie, asked during a family discussion,
” How can one vacuum cleaner help another vacuum cleaner?”
Four of us around the circle smiled and laughed at the image.
Then I blurted out, “Why, show the other vacuum how to reverse the hose and blow out the dirt, and not suck it in and collect it.”
That comment released waves of uncontrollable laughter that actually did blast clean air through all of us.
Compassion and empathy are vital in close relationships but my tendency is to try to fix my husband and kids by hoarding their pain within my heart.
YES.
Is anyone fixed or set free as I sacrifice my peace and happiness to try to help my family?
NO.
Does this Vacuum Cleaner Syndrome destroy every one’s peace and joy?
YES.
The good news is that a silly image that pictures mum as a vacuum cleaner does reverse this self-defeating, addictive pattern because it makes it easier for everyone to understand how ludicrous I have been. The laughter that follows releases the tension used to keep emotional pain locked up inside.
Jesus is the only vacuum cleaner who has the ability to literally suck up every one’s emotional pain, sin etc. and then blow in joy, peace and new life back in. The only prerequisite is to give Him permission. This is the great exchange; surrender dirt and receive the bright, clean breath of God, then laugh at how long it took you to let it happen.
Let’s entrust our kids to God and Mary’s intercession.
Mary is the Queen over all things: “Queen over all things” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 966).
Entrust our cares to Mary: “Holy Mary, Mother of God…we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ [Lk 1:38] By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: ‘Thy will be done,’ (CCC 2677).
Mary is Advocate, Helper, Mediatrix. “…the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.'” (CCC 969).
Amen. Let it be so
joy of nine9 
Melanie,
Do you just lay awake at night thinking about this stuff??? 🙂 I love the way you put all of this together. Absolutely, no one but you could have done this. What a great gift you have from our Lord. You bring a smile to each and every one of us! Thanks so much for sharing. I do so accept the “gift.” I loved it!!!! God Bless, SR
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Analogies just pop into my head when we are talking or I’m writing
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Just love the analogy!
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good to get feed back- thank-you
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Good Morning My Dear Sister in Christ; this is truly a very well pen article. Thank you for sharing. I stopped by this morning to wish you a Happy and Joyful Mothers’ Day. I know that it is already starting out with much excitement and great anticipation. May God bless you abundantly as you navigate through the journey He has set you out on. Thank you for participating in our Mothers’ Day Week Celebration. You and your family blessed our lives and many readers, visitors and friends that stopped by to participate in this great celebration. May you find Peace and Joy in all you do this Mothers’ Day. We love you and appreciate you.
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Your loving support gives me a smile today- thanks
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Great article. This sentence says it all for me – “He needs us to simply be conduits of his Love.” I need to remember that.
God bless!
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I need all the support from orthodox Catholics like you, Barb and Nancy after yesterday because aI am faithful to the Churches teachings but my manner of expression is differenyt so THANK-YOU
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I love the vacuum cleaner analogy. Seriously, one of the hardest things to learn is where we stop and another person begins. Boundaries just can’t be invaded without trouble, and while we do not want to see our children, spouses, or friends suffer, people seem to need to find out stuff for themselves. The best way to cope is to do what you said, let Jesus vacuum all the dirt, bad feelings, and destructive tendencies up. But some of us want to snatch back the dirt we’ve given to Him and we get stuck pressing a repeat button so it keeps going back and forth. Witnessing that process is hard for those who love us, but all we can do is pray. I think about how Our Lady must feel, praying for all of us repeat offenders.
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worried since yesterday that this post might offend- so my heart felt thanks Barb
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this is BRILLIANT, Melanie. It’s so easy to take on all the anx…sometimes I just want to say… I’m not in grade 11, 9, 6, 1 (or preschool =) and I don’t want to be!!! and yet I too easily take on the worries and emotion that my kids face. So healthy to realize that I’m not helping them by absorbing it all and joining them in their worries. I need to somehow be the calm light and hope reminding them of God’s Love and keeping things in perspective. Hmmm…I’m really not good at that!! I need some extra grace to try to pull that off! Thanks so much for your thoughtful post!
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changes everything when we realize that we have been stealing Jesus’ job, doesn’t it?- thanks for making me smile, laugh and then grin very widely
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Love this post…and so did many others! You won the Big Click Awards over at the Catholic Bloggers Network for May! http://www.catholicbloggersnetwork.com/2013/05/joy-of-nine9-cloistered-heart-roses.html
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I wasn’t sure at first if people could relat I am so pleased
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