How Long Can You Be Miserable?

okay take take two i guess maybe take whatever oh here we go okay he's so good oh man oh man [Music] hi my name is father mike schmitz and this is ascension presents so um i'm part of what is called a priest fraternity or a priest frat um basically a bunch of guys from my diocese we get together once every like maybe four to six weeks and we we pray together we have a meal together and then we you know talk about just here's how life's been here's the the struggles here's the the areas of growth here are the joys you know we get to kind of celebrate with each other we also get to kind of troubleshoot problem solve with each other sometimes or even just commiserate or uh kind of like let someone you know share their struggles let someone someone share their joys it's great at one point one of our last more recent meetings uh one of the brothers one of the frat brothers he he was talking about something that was kind of a challenge for him and and he said yeah i i don't really like it yet i'm not really sure i like it yet this thing that was a challenge and one of the other brothers one of the older brothers right he's kind of the uh the the most the wisest he has the most experience he's kind of the the big brother of the group um he looks across the little circle we had and he just said count with a smile on his face he's like well you don't have to like it and i thought i'm gonna write that down and i did write it down um i don't really like it yet you don't have to like it it's one of those things i think sometimes here's the dilemma that i find myself tying myself up in knots over it's this it is here is a task that's clearly been given to me here's a reality of life that is clearly even handed to me now it could be something minor it could be something that's just an annoyance it'd be it could be something that is is devastating right it could be something that is really difficult and everything in between and i could say well i don't really like it yet or i don't like it and i can actually here's what i do i can fixate on you might think this is my story it's not my story i didn't say this you guys it was some two other brothers i was paying attention to them back to our story i can become fixated on what do i feel about this or i mean am i enjoying this am i disliking this am i not enjoying this do i like it yet and i can be waiting for the time when i like it and then then i'll be able to like just do it freely then i'll be able to do it with joy if i like it and the older priest again talking to my brother my brother priest saying you don't have to like it and i think there's something so freeing about that no obviously there's more to life than suffering obviously there's more to life than um just you know grit and then grind through it but there's also a freedom in being able to say i might not like this but i can do it i might not take them all the greatest joy about having to accomplish this task or having to to live through this season of my life but i can still do it you don't have to wait that's the crazy thing they don't have to wait for life to be perfect to take joy in it i don't have to wait to even like something to be able to take joy in it but to have that that freedom that interior freedom that's able to say lord whatever you bring me whether i like it or dislike it i can i have the ability to do it i have the ability to enter into it because the opposite uh the waiting waiting for the moment when i finally like it will end i think we'll drive us to the same place every time i think waiting until i like something to go about doing it will always lead us to the same place and that place is a place called resentment resentment is one of the most one of the most devastating attitudes of life a person can have i think in my in my opinion resentment is one of the most devastating attitudes a person can have because all of us get frustrated right of course then it passes all of us get angry at some point and then it passes all of us have this sense of again we can look at injustice against ourselves against people we love against people other in other cultures and other countries and we can want to do something about that absolutely but resentment is different resentment is that anger or that frustration solidified it's not a living thing you know anger is a living thing resentment frustration is a living thing grief is a living thing resentment is a frozen thing resentment is something that that anger that grief that that that frustration that's frozen in time and it can't move it can't grow it's not a living thing it's okay to be angry it's okay to be frustrated it's okay to be in grief it's not okay to be resentful i was in the airport not too long ago and i we had let a group of our campus students uh campus students we led a group of our students to israel and back and we were in the chicago airport and i was waiting for the other students to get through security and i'm just kind of waiting sitting there watching people and this one woman was walking from security crossing the the hallway or whatever that walkway you know obviously isn't they haven't the hallway they have in in airports and she had her bag behind her and there's another woman who has kind of intersected her right and tripped on her bag as the woman was dragging her bag behind her she kind of kicked it accidentally and just kind of kept going and the woman just who who had tripped over the bag or kicked the bag a little bit just kept going she was on her way to her gate she probably had somewhere to go but the woman who whose bag it was that got kind of clipped a little bit just i just she just stared she just kept staring it was this and she got to put her put her shoes on she's sitting on this bench and she's just looking you know the other woman has walked away now i'm sitting i'm standing there watching this whole thing right and this other woman whose bag was clipped what has the girl is going around the corner she still just like has this look of like i can't believe you would do this kind of a thing and i thought oh my gosh that's me so often right i can hold on to what someone has done this completely an accident just clipped your bag didn't even do anything i mean it didn't break anything it didn't hurt anybody it just was kind of like a oh that was maybe you could say at the most it was inconsiderate at the most it was slightly rude it was just an accident but this woman who kept staring was holding on to what had happened whereas the girl who's who whose foot clipped the bag had forgotten about it as soon as it happened but the other person was just holding on to it and that kind of thing that kind of i guess it's a mini version of micro resentment micro cement it's a micro resentment that just again steals joy it steals freedom because i didn't like it i mean i could be the lady whose bag got clipped i don't like that it's okay okay i can move on i might not like the task that i've been given and that's okay they acknowledge that like pay attention to that it's good to be attentive to your feelings be good to be attentive to the reality of this situation but also to say i don't have to like it i have the power i have the freedom i have the ability it's not like this season in my life do not like what i'm going through right now to not like the cards that i've been dealt and to still play i don't like the hand that i've been dealt but i can still play i don't like that this is the path that i'm on but i can still run i don't like that this is the season of my life and yet this is a season in which you can i promise you you can find joy because god is on that path god is in this game and god is in this season of your life i'm not sure i really like it yet well you don't have to like it to be able to let go of resentment be able to let go of that waiting to like it and have the freedom the power and the joy to realize god is with me therefore i can move ahead anyways that's what i'm thinking for all of us here descendants presents my name's father mike god bless [Music] you

Channel: Ascension Presents

Views: 56,447

Keywords: how to be happy, finding happiness, ascension, ascension press, ascension presents, father mike, catholic advice, catholic inspiration, catholic motivation, fr. mike schmitz, fr. Mike schmidt, father mike schmitz, michael schmitz, fr. Mike advice, fr. Mike videos, fr mike schmitz, how to be happy with yourself, dealing with resentment, dealing with resentment biblically, avoiding resentment in relationships, avoiding resentment, how to be happy in life, why am i so unhappy

Id: EBCzCr1drEo

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 16 2022