Felicity: A Team Newton Moment

For the past few months, I have been writing “Felicity Moments” which are moments of grace in my little life.

But the truth is…

Every Felicity Moment really is a “Team Newton Moment.”

There are many times where I am judged for my almost daily phone calls home, the excessive group chat messages, the Snapchat streak with my brother, the advice I get from my parents being what wins over that of my friends. This little comments used to bother me, but now I realize that these jokes, these comments, these jabs are not a reflection of me, but rather they are reflection of the world today.

Having a family, a real family, is not normal anymore.

The idea of a family is no longer associated with a loving community built to raise one another up. Families are now considered a pain, a thanksgiving dinner gone wrong, and a hassle.

Children are a burden or their futures are considered “too risky” in this world.

The world is a scary place. We have wars and civil injustices and hunger and pain and arguments and murders of all kinds. We have diseases and poverty and inequalities. We have so many negatives around us that we want to give up.

However, there is something we can do. Families are what will save the world.

If there is one thing that I have learned as Kid Captain of Team Newton, it is that we can all be heroes.

You see, the world is in need of love. That’s what we need in order to overcome the numerous tragedies that we see around us. Sure, we cannot stop hurricanes, but we can start cleaning up the land. Sure, we cannot stop people from having different opinions, but we can start working towards finding the truth as a community. Sure, there will always be difficulties because there are evil people and evil actions out there, but they will not win in the end.

Love wins in the end.

Heroes rarely wear capes. The hero is the one who loves the most.

Sadly, we live in a world that is so selfish that we do not even know how to love others to begin with. We choose ourselves over our families. We choose ourselves over starting a family. We choose ourselves over even the idea of committing to someone we love.

As a result, we lost the idea of a family, a place where love is born.

Our family is where we are loved first. However, in a world that would rather replace children with animals, in a world where children are shuttled from foster home to foster home without a single person to love them, we lack the opportunity to learn how to love in a community. We choose ourselves, and in the end, we reach a plateau in our own lives and everyone feels alone.

We feel alone because we are alone.

I’m not saying that if you do not come from a close family that you cannot love properly.

Because that love is not our own.

The love we have in our hearts comes from Jesus Christ, made perfectly for you. We love imperfectly, but the act of love itself is made perfect in the heart of those we love. Therefore, by learning how to love others in our own unique way, we become the hero that someone needs. We bring Jesus in to the hearts of others in our own unique love, the love that each and every human heart desires.

A family rooted in love raises up heroes.

Not because they are the championship winners, the scholars, nor the performers. Families raise up heroes because they teach us how to love.

Not just love in general, but how you specifically are called to love others.

Without my family, I would never have found my space in this world, nor would I have been able to love others as well as I do now. They raised me to be a hard worker so that I could have any job I wanted. Now I am a scientist, and I love on my students by encouraging them to work hard and believe in themselves. They raised me to be a strong Catholic so that I could know Jesus Christ. Now I am a Confirmed Catholic, and I love on others by reminding them constantly of Jesus’ love for them, Christian or not.

My family made me a loving Catholic woman who brings Jesus to the sciences through hard work and being a bit louder than most folk.

A family can inspire a person to become the strongest person they can be and to believe in themselves, but they also teach us how to love one another through sacrifice, by raising one another up in love.

I learned that the best video game player is the one who intentionally helps the youngest child get 1st place in Mario Kart by riding in 3rd place and beating down all of their enemies.

I learned that the bravest person is the one who steps away from their games to sit with their sister having a panic attack behind the crib.

I learned that the sweetest achievements only matter if you share them with someone else.

We love others by being our best selves and stepping back to allow others to shine for a moment. In a world that rejects the idea of commitment, we often try to do everything on our own and hold others down. Political ads rarely talk about the positives in the candidate, but rather they are negative ads about their opponents. Bullying continues to happen…and that’s just because the bullies are not loved properly.

We tear others down when really we should be raising them up.

You learn that in a family.

Maybe my love is not perfect, but I know that I can love more and more perfectly each day. I know this because my family sees through my crosses and sees the rose planted upon the cross. They see the beauty of my heart, and they inspire me to share that beauty with each person in my life.

They raised me to believe in myself and others.

That’s what a family does. 

It brings hope in to the world through love. Not just a feel-good love, but true love, the love which raises up everyone around us. A love that reminds us of who we are: Children of God.

So yeah, I have many happy little moments…

But they would not be present if my family was not there to help me see them.

My Dear Readers, we are all called to be heroes. We are all called to love one another in our own unique way. We are all members of God’s Family, and therefore we have the ability to love one another in Jesus’s name. There is nothing to fear because it is never a loss to love a little one.

Although I am far from being able to raise a family of my own, I will continue to grow in love.

Because I am your Sister in Christ, and I will be here to walk with you, to help raise you, to be there with you as we walk towards Heaven.

Just as Team Newton taught me.