My Little Rosary

As I said before, I have a problem with patience. I offered my mass up for it yesterday, as I shamelessly begged for graces ;-) . This morning, during my morning prayer, another opportunity arose for me to practice, and ask, for patience. I won't go into details, as it really is petty. Very, very petty.

But, thanks be to God, I remembered that I needed to pray for patience when the occasion presented itself. I also remembered my mother-in-law telling me once that a priest told her that he prays a "little rosary" when he needed a boost. This little rosary consists of one Our Father, three Hail Mary's, and a Glory Be. So I decided to give it a try. By the first Hail Mary, I had realized that my annoyance really was petty, and by voicing it I would just be trying to start an argument, or at the very least make someone feel really bad. By the second Hail Mary, I didn't want to voice it anymore. And by the third Hail Mary, I actually felt better and more peaceful than I did before this particular annoyance. After I said the Glory Be, I was able to get on with things and truly I was not annoyed anymore.

My new resolve is to say my little Rosary whenever I feel that sting of patience being lost. I am going to refuse to even speak until after the Glory Be, even if that means I have to leave the room for a few seconds.

I told you before that my spiritual director had asked me what virtue I wanted to work on. At our meeting last month, he gave me ideas to help me in this task. Saying a daily rosary was one of them, proclaiming my faith openly (by wearing a crucifix or by some other way) was another, and joyfully serving people and my family especially was the third. It's almost time for my next meeting with him (tomorrow) and I think I have finally reached my starting point.

So what do you do to keep those little things from ruining your day?