Rachel and Leah

Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel and counted it as nothing, because "he loved Rachel more than Leah."

But God, "seeing that Leah was unloved, opened her womb, but Rachel was barren" (Gen 29:31).  Leah named her first-born Reuben, meaning "The Lord has seen my affliction."  Leah continued to have sons and naming them according to her feelings of being unloved.  In the meantime, Rachel, who was most loved, continued to grieve because she was barren and could not produce sons, a sign of Divine dis-favor in Israel.  After all, God's first commandment was to "increase and multiply," and the curse for Eve's disobedience was difficulty in child-bearing.  Of the 12 sons of Jacob, Leah bore 10, and Rachel died bearing her second.  Who was favored most?  We cannot tell; both were favored in different ways.

Like Mary and Martha in the Gospel story, some of us are more productive, but grieve because we are not more contemplative, while the contemplatives grieve because they are not more productive.  Therese of Liseux, a cloistered nun, wanted more that anything else to be a missionary, to spread the love of Jesus throughout the world.  Strangely, because of her writings, she is now considered the patron saint of missionaries.  God knows how to satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts.

He knows how to balance our natural tendencies in such a way that He can make the "rich man poor," and the poor rich.  Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy merchant, but when God finished with him, Francis became known as the "little poor man."  None of us can compare who we are or what we do to the lives of others.  The small edelweiss has as much beauty and usefulness as the majestic oak, although neither would believe it to be true from their own perspective.  God has placed one on the top of a mountain, and one in the forest for His own pleasure and purpose.  Someone once said, "Bloom where you are planted."  Be who you are---it's all you can be.  And leave the rest to God.