PMS

Is PMS -Pity My Self or Please My Self?

Do you blame PMS for your “unGodly” moments? Is PMS your excuse or how often do you make it your excuse? Well, if your PMS is like my PMS, it is just that, an excuse, an excuse to pity myself; and to please myself.

What I value most is time. It can’t be bought, and there is never enough of it. Free time for me is —God Time, Quiet Time, Stan Time, Family and Friend Time, Flower (and Weed) Time, Cooking Time and Reading Time. I always seem to have Busy Time-Go Here, Go There, Do This, Do That Time.

So I vowed during one of these PMS “moments” that I needed to find a new PMS. Not something where I blamed everyone else, or envied what others did with their Time, but a “moment” where I could realize all that I have to be thankful for: a husband who loves me, and puts God first in our lives; friends who care about me; a job that I like and that lets me help others; and a close knit family, with plenty of role models in the past and present to remind me of what God expects of me.

Paul said to the Romans: Rom 12:9-16 “Brothers and sisters: Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation.”

He said nothing about My Self, but a lot about Others. He said nothing about taking care of me, but a lot about serving others. He says to share in rejoicing and weeping, he says to serve the poor. And he says to “Persevere in Prayer.”

So I thought about the friend who had to quit a job she loved because of health issues; the friend who mourns the lost of her best friend, her husband; the friend who is trying to patiently wait while her husband “finds himself;” the friends who have quarreled and can’t find it in their hearts to be the first to tell the other they are sorry, or to forgive; and the friend who is taking care of and worried about a sick family member.

And I realized that I would love to give each of these friends what they so need: a job to love, health, a best friend, peace, comfort, forgiveness.

So I decided to make PMS be something new: PRAY MY SELF. (Not FOR myself, but For Others).

What Paul talks about cannot be found in a Pity and Please My Self Time; but they can be found in a Pray My Self Time.

How much time do we have for Prayer? Do our prayers of thanks for what we have, open our heart for our friends who need what we have? Do we even realize all that we have, or are we too wrapped up in “self?”

Dear God: Forgive My PMS, pity and please, and help make it be my reminder to Pray. Thank you for my health, my husband, my family, my friends, and my job. Help me to appreciate what I have and to remember that there are many others who do not have so much. Bless my friend so that she will find a new profession where her health isn’t a problem; give comfort and peace to my friends who have lost their spouses; give perseverance and patience to my friend who’s husband is seeking more God and family time; restore health and bless my family and friends who are suffering illness; and help my friends find forgiveness and reconciliation. Thank you for the things that money can’t buy: love, faith and friends. Amen.

So next time you are blaming PMS—Change to Pray My Self. There is Always Time!

Blessings
Charlotte