Yeah, what she said!

Okay, so I have been following a wonderful Catholic blog written by an amazing Catholic mom of two beautiful children.  This woman has become a sort of mentor to me, though we don't communicate with one another, I certainly do look up to her as a devout and faithful woman of Christ. 

Head covering is a topic that many don't understand and some who just completely misconstrue it all together.  For the longest time I didn't fully understand why women covered their heads, but growing up in a Mennonite community (though not a very conservative one like the Old Mennonites or Amish), it wasn't unusual to see it.  I knew in general it was a religious practice and a calling.  Never once did I see it as someone trying to be holier than thou and putting themselves higher than others.  Humility always came to my mind.  That said, I never had the desire to cover until about (I'm going to guess here) 7 years ago.  I was going through some big spiritual struggles which were totally plaguing my personal life and in the depths of my soul I was always being led to cover my head.  I couldn't put my finger on it though.  Why should I?  For what purpose does it/would it serve me?

I had spent several hours reading and trying to understand what 1 Cor 11:1-16 meant.  I even sought the advice of our dear friend who was getting his Masters of Divinity (yeah Ryan and he would spend hours in theological discussions which usually made my head spin).  I still couldn't quite understand why God was calling me to cover.  Until now.

Fast forward 7 years to last summer.  I don't recall exactly when I started to cover, but I know it was around the beginning of summer.  Anyway, it finally dawned on me.  I had never covered before because although the calling was there, my spirit was not in the same place God was calling me to be.  My actions were not matching up to the standard of that calling.  I was not living the life fitting of a Christian woman and mother.  I want to take a moment to attribute the alignment of my heart to the calling with my coming home to the Catholic Church.  Through my recent studies of the saints and scriptures, I'm beginning to really learn what humility is.  Knowledge is the first step right?  The biggest challenge has been letting go of myself (selfish indulgences and entitlements) and allowing Christ's humility to lead me. 

Okay, so back to this awesome blog I mentioned earlier.  My family has asked me why I've started to cover, and I simply direct them to the verses stated above.  I've even had some conversations with some of my online friends who have asked about head covering.  What I haven't been able to articulate is the the depth to which head covering can lead you.  This will be a bit of an abrupt ending, but rather than muddle it all up, please read Cam's blog on head covering.