oh, Jesus, I give you this day....

 "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I will begin this day.
I thank you, Lord, for having preserved me during the night. I will do my best to make all I do today pleasing to You and in accordance with Your will. My dear mother Mary, watch over me this day. My Guardian Angel, take care of me. St. Joseph and all you saints of God, pray for me.
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen."

 
It's 6 a.m., your alarm goes off. You get up, grumbling about how you now "need" to go to work, or you "need" to take care of your kids...
WAIT!
Stop and think....
you should be GRATEFUL to have a job, so many do not.
You should be grateful to have awakened in a bed...so many are homeless.
Was your house toasty warm? Many are without propane gas right now during the coldest of cold snaps in at least thirty years!

I, too am guilty sometimes of taking each new morning for granted. When the weather is nicer, I go for a long morning walk and daily, seeing all of the good around me, spend that time in prayer. I give to God all of my worries, me fears, but also my gratitudes. I end my conversation with God this way: "Dear God, help me to be You today. Let others see Jesus in me, so that they may have a much better day! Amen."

In this way, I am now mindful that I have a responsibility to perform. I now am walking with Jesus. You remember the old saying, "what would Jesus do?" Well...it now pertains to me as well. What would I do if Jesus were right beside me? Would I walk past another in need? Do I tell off color jokes? Do I spread rumors, gossip and malicious lies? and the hard part...do I really want to get back at the ones who have hurt me in the past? Not as long as Jesus is standing next to me, tap-tapping his foot like a mother who is clearly disappointed in her young child for mischief! And not if He wasn't there, either! Jesus is a good type of habit to have!!

Today, offer up your day, your thoughts, words, actions and anything else that may stand in the way of your being a holy person. Give your day to God...and see what happens! It is so worth it!