I am a father. I am a father to two human beings who are so different that it is difficult to believe that they have the same source of life. For one thing, one of them looks like the caucasian that I am and the other looks like the Southeast Asian that my loving wife is. One of them is rowdy like I am and the other is quiet and reserved as his mother is. One of them went from high school to college, worked his way through, got a job, a girl friend, a fiancee, etc....
The other graduated from high school, looked around, challenged me to throw him out, got a job, survived because of the love of his grandmother, went to college, worked hard, lived for a few years in the same 600 square foot apartment with me and his mother and finally graduated from a prestigious university. Now all he needs is a job.
All of this has taken place over 3o years. In a previous life people would have come to me asking for guidance in situations like this. I would have sat there in my soft chair and given them shares of my God-given wisdom. At this time I am humbly saying that there is nothing that anyone else can tell you about how to get through this stuff except God himself. No, I take that back...God through your spouse. There are situations that only married people can figure out. They can figure it out because God talks to them in a special way. He talks to them through the very children that they are trying to raise. When you put it all together, you realize that God is telling you that this is the situation and this is what I want you to do. So you go out for a walk in the cool, cool, cool of the evening and one of you says, "I have been dreaming and God has been talking to me and here's what He says. You decide to do it. You have a family meeting and it happens. You find the money, you find the living space, you find the work, you find the love, you find the strength and the energy and five or six years later you sit back and God says, "See, I told you so."
You go to the graduation, you see your two boys helping one another and you know that God is in charge. There is nothing greater than seeing the power of God from the front row seat of your own life. I know that because I have been living it now for those five years that I mentioned above. I am telling you that I will carry this happiness with me to the grave. You can cry tears of happiness now, but don't you dare forget not to cry at my funeral.
2 comments:
I Lost a job I wanted in 2002 and was under-employed by a wide income magine for 18 months. In that time, I ate, paid bills, kept a house (the truck had to go)and in general just went on with life. I told everyone, and still say today, that my Employer hasn't laid anyone off in six thousand years. What's more He guarantees a living wage. Some times I don't get the message I'm being sent. I have been known to insist on hearing what I want; this never works but it keeps cropping up. It is my deep conviction that God's will contains my happiness, that God's love providses and enables my joy and that God's service is perfect freedom. So all I have to do is seek His will for me (I do best if I lesve His for others up to others)and set about trying to carry it out for everything in my life to be perfect. It seems simple but it's not easy. The moment my eye or my fancy settles on an obect of desire all that wisdom flutters out the window. I hear a;right I just don't listen as well as I might. That's why I need you, the Communion of Saints, The Body of Christ, Holy Mother the Church because unceasing instruction, counsel and support are found there.
Dennis Sheahan:
I Lost a job I wanted in 2002 and was under-employed by a wide income magazine for 18 months. In that time, I ate, paid bills, kept a house (the truck had to go) and in general just went on with life. I told everyone, and still say today, that my Employer hasn't laid anyone off in six thousand years. What's more He guarantees a living wage. Some times I don't get the message I'm being sent. I have been known to insist on hearing what I want to hear; this never works but it keeps cropping up. It is my deep conviction that God's will contains my happiness, that God's love providses and enables my joy and that God's service is perfect freedom. So all I have to do is seek His will for me (I do best if I leave His Will for others up to others) and set about trying to carry it out for everything in my life to be perfect. It seems simple but it's not easy. The moment my eye or my fancy settles on an object of desire all that wisdom flutters out the window. I hear alright I just don't listen as well as I might. That's why I need you, the Communion of Saints, The Body of Christ, Holy Mother the Church because unceasing instruction, counsel and support are found there.
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