And the Truth shall set you Free

I was blessed to grow up in a great neighborhood - St. Pat's.  For decades, Troy neighborhoods where known by their parish names.  In fact, my neighborhood wasn't called North Central until sometime in the late 70's or early 80's.  The last 25 years have been pretty hard for North Central (now called Uptown), her dedicated residents and historic structures.  Gone are the days of the church being the center of activity in a community.  And with St. Patrick's RC Church closing, it's not going to be any easier for us.  Such a shame, too, given all the support this parish provided to the neighborhood.

The final community mass will be celebrated at St. Pat's on June 27th.  Although the original plan was to merge St. Paul's and St. Peter's parishes with St. Patrick's, that was not to be.  Following a poll of the other two parishes, it was determined that the people "would not want to commute" to St. Patrick's.  Commute is an interesting choice of words given that the other two churches are both less than 2 miles from St. Patrick's.  Personally, I think it's time to open a few windows and air the truth.

So what's the real reason these fellow Trojans would not attend church in Uptown?  Prejudice.  Sorry folks, I call it like I see it.  Prejudice is fed by fear, fear is fed by ignorance and ignorance is taught.  Our vibrant and VIABLE church is closing because fellow Trojans are "too good" to come here.  The people of Uptown have been on their own for at least two decades now anyway.  Why should this situation be any different?

Little Blessings

A heart is filled with hope and joy because of little blessings.  It's those little blessings that help to make living so beautiful. Although it's easy to overlook them - like when someone lets you into a line of traffic -  it's seeing things as blessings instead of obstacles that will make a difference in your life.  If I'm driving behind someone that is going a bit slow or I catch every red light along the way, I accept that there must be a reason I need to slow down.  I think positive thoughts and am thankful for the blessing.  I haven't always seen that situation as a blessing though.  I've learned to.

Say it however you want; You get more with honey than you do with vinegar.  I've had plenty of vinegar in my life and for a time was quite bitter.  When I began to replace the vinegar with honey, my life changed completely.  I changed my diet.  My thought diet, that is.  For example, when someone would tailgate me, I would think "I'm doing the speed limit, what's your $%%#*& hurry?".  Now, I think "Gees, he must be running late for work.  Hope he doesn't get into trouble." 

Little blessings are easy to give too.  Try this sometime.  Next time you're buying a cup of coffee at Stewart's, pay for another cup the same size and tell the clerk the next one's on you.  The clerk knows you paid for it and you know you paid for it however the person that receives that free cup of coffee just knows that someone was kind enough to do that.  It's a great way to share.

Take Care of Where You Live

Whether you own or rent, the way your home looks reflects on you.  People driving by don't know who owns the place or even who lives there; they only know whether it looks good or not.  It's so easy for a renter to blame the landlord rather than take personal responsibility for where they live.  As a life-long renter, I can tell horror stories about some of  landlords and fellow tenants that I've had the "pleasure" of dealing with.  Landlords come in all forms, just like tenants do.
 
Tenants will complain about their overgrown yards and the trash in front of their house yet they won't clean it up.  Why?  Sadly, they assume that the upkeep of a property is solely the responsibilty of the landlord.  They don't understand stewardship.  When a property owner gives someone the priviledge of residing in one of their apartments, they are also making that person a steward of the property.  A good steward will mow the lawn.  A good steward will sweep the sidewalk.  A good steward will have the broken window replaced when the landlord can't or won't.  A good steward will get a trash can if the landlord doesn't supply one.  A good steward will paint their apartment when it needs it.  

I can hear it already, it's not a tenants responsibility to fix what's broken.  I tell you, it is!  If a tenant has reached out to their landlord with an issue and the landlord doesn't respond, it is the tenants right and responsibility to get the situation resolved.  It's part of the tenant's stewardship.  A good steward will have the issue addressed and a smart steward will deduct those expenses from their rental payment and provide the landlord with the receipts.  Think of it this way: As a tenant, you chose to live there.  You chose to call this place your home.  Act like it is.