What a great weekend. Once again, a snowy Sunday morning. For some reason, the snow both energizes me and calms me. It was a great early morning suprise this Sunday.I was able to visit my mom on Saturday. She was recently disappointed at her volunteer job and I wanted to spend some time with her. She is learning, what we all must learn, the difficulty in letting go and giving up activities that must change with our age. She is able to relinquish control with such faith and grace. So I went to be with her but what she gave me was so much more on this special Saturday morning. As I was getting ready to leave she told me -
"Eddie, if the Lord is calling you to leave the country, to go and work somewhere other than around here, you must listen and follow. How terrible would it be if the Lord were to call you to another country and you say 'no' because you are worried about me. I will die alone whether you are here or not."
My mom is a wise person and knows the things we all need to learn - but we fight. What a gift she has given her son in freeing me. What courage and faith it must take to be able to say that to me - and wherever I end up, I will be forever grateful for the gift already given to me.
And so we reminded each other "Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundred-fold now in this age -- houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions -- and in the age to come - eternal life."
I remain so very grateful.
