I look back at photos of my baby through the different stages of development and there is definitely bittersweet in there. It feels like only yesterday we were in the hospital, but there have been so many different faces of my child since then. Each iteration of this child has brought its own joys and concerns, and then before I knew it, gone was that child, and in its place was a new child in a slightly bigger body, with new joys and new concerns. I look back and wonder how each iteration came and left so fleetingly, without so much as a greeting or goodbye.
My husband chided me jokingly the other day for my new kitchen rosary. It’s a repurposed abacus that allows me to move the beads to mark each decade and remember where I am so I can stop and start my rosary at any given point throughout the day (as an aside, it is a very handy way for moms to fit in a rosary around their busy day!). He asked why I had to get such a colourful one, saying it attracted our toddler’s attention. My husband said, “[baby] thinks it’s theirs now… it’s on loan”. I replied, “everything we have in this life is on loan,” then turning to my child, I half-jokingly said, “practice detachment. Nothing in this world is really yours.”
This brings me to the topic of the day: impermanence. That famous saying, “this too shall pass” rings true for all Earthly matters. As much as we would love to apply immortality to things of the Earth, the reality is that it will all come to an end. Everything around us has a shelf-life. Some may have longer shelf lives than others (they don’t make ’em like they used to), but everything passes, everything fades. Even our relationships don’t last forever. Our most loving and loyal bonds could end at any moment, completely unforeseen, because of the mortal nature of our bodies. Our parents die. Our spouses die. Children (tragically) die. We all die.
Our souls, though, our souls are eternal. That, in my humble opinion, is why we seek “forever”, why we want to connect to something immortal, infinite, eternal. But the only eternity there really is, is in the Lord. To connect with that eternal nature, we must follow Him, and to do so, we obey his commandments.
We know that the greatest commandment is to love God with our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Deut 6:5, Matt 22:37-38, Mark 12:33). What does this look like? Jesus says “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Using the tool of hyperbole, Christ says we cannot learn from Him if we don’t love Him so much more than anyone or anything else that, in comparison, it looks like our love for them is hatred.
So the right order of things is to put God first and foremost. Before your parents. Before your spouse. Before your children. Before your siblings. Before your own life. Because He alone will never fail you and He alone will never leave you. And in His wisdom, the more you love Him, the better you will love those around you.
He shows us how to give grace, how to forgive – how to truly love. And He also shows us how we actually can be with others for eternity: united in Him.
Here’s a little prayer I wrote to sum it all up:
Thank you Lord for teaching me about the temporal nature of this life through my growing child. I accept Your sovereignty over all things. All that You have given to me is not mine to keep; the people, the things, the time… all belongs to You. Let me give it all back to You, and hold only to You, with steadfast hope and love.
Amen.
Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!
Mom Things Through Christ 