Today is a big day in my life. Twenty eight years ago I gave birth my second daughter, Brittany Berghuis. I remember the first moment I laid eyes on my little baby. Coming out of consciousness after an emergency c-section and a very hard labor, a nurse held my new-born daughter in front of me. I was dazed and barely coherent – my new-born baby girl was undoubtedly suffering the effects of the long ordeal too. Holding my baby near my face so I could see her, a nurse gently spoke to me – “Here is your daughter Carolyn.” Time suddenly stopped, all that existed in my world at that moment was my little baby and myself. Maternal love arose from deep within. I then spoke my first words to her as I kissed her little face – “I love you Brittany”. Words I would repeat over and over as she grew. To this day I sometimes playfully ask Brittany what my first words to her were – with a smile she replays – “I love you Brittany”.
Joy Can Be Fleeting
Yes, that was a glorious day; however, my joy would be challenged. Like others in the world, my family would experience heartache and pain. We would be tried – over and over again. My relationship with Brittany would be tried, my relationship with my oldest daughter Alicia would be tied, my relationship with my son Christopher would be tried, and my relationship with my husband would be tried. Time and time again we would face struggles. While some day I will likely write my memoirs, for now I will leave you with the knowledge that I have experienced my fair share of pain and heartache in my lifetime.
Looking back throughout my life I can see a bit of how my pain and heartache entered into my life. My sins, sins of the generations before, and sins of the world all played a part. I also feel there has been a bit (or a lot) of spiritual oppression and attack. Looking back I can see that at the foundation of all the strife stood a lack of relationship with Christ – my own lack, my husband’s lack, and the lack of most of the ancestors that came before me. Fortunately for me, Jesus Christ never walked away. He remained near me always. Even before I knew it was Jesus, I felt his gentle presence within.
Who is Jesus?
In today’s first reading Paul speaks to the crowd and tells them that while those in Jerusalem had Jesus Christ put to death, God rose him from the dead. In raising Jesus from the dead God kept his promise of everlasting life. God promised his people an everlasting life, an eternal life that they would only experience through His Son. Everything changed when Jesus rose from the dead for us, the deal was done. We too will rise at the appointed time!
Paul would also later tell those in Rome and Corinth, that all are part of Christ’ body. You, I, and all of mankind are part of his sacred body. Included are those who do not know him (yet) – like my younger self. We are in this together. When one of us hurts, the whole body experiences pain. When one of us feels joy, everyone benefits from this joy. Pain and joy alike pass between all of us, moving through the generations.
Generational Patterns
Patterns move through families, patterns that are congruent with God’s plan of goodness for humanity and patterns that lead to a painful spiritual chasm between the maker and the made. Families certainly tend to “lean” a certain way. Some lean towards God, and others, sadly, lean away from God. However, God is always faithful, always present, and always ready to draw us home. He rescued me many times over. Among the many generation patterns that have been broken in my life is divorce. I am the first woman in four generations who did not experience divorce. My maternal great-grandmother (who was an Irish immigrant born in the late 1800’s), my maternal grandmother, and my mother all experienced the pain of divorce. Yes, all three women who came before me had marriages that ended up in divorce. Not a good track record! And yet, here I am, very happily married after 28+ years.
Moving Through Jesus
God the Father, our creator, continually creates everything out of his infinite love. All of creation, including mankind, then comes into existence through his Son – Jesus Christ. Creation will remain a part of the sacred body of Christ for all eternity. Yes, we forget the journey our soul takes when we enter into this world and become a human being. And sadly, as a result of this forgetting, we sometimes fail to reach out to the love we were created in. However, our forgetting and our lack of reaching out does not change the fact that we are part of the body of God’s Son, the second person of the Trinity. In order to move back towards God we must move through Jesus Christ. This is done when we move into relationship with him.
Jesus knew that while we would forget the way to the Father, somewhere inside we will always know the way to the Father. I like to equate this internal, and sometimes buried, knowing to our internal longing to love and be loved in return. Jesus, who is the way and the truth and the life, is the one who came into the world to show us what love really looks like. In Christ we find our eternal joy, love, and the road-map back to the dwelling place God has created for each and every one of us.
“Where I am going you know the way.” – John 14:4
Being Human
Yes, human families encounter sin and we will forget who we really are. We forget that we are children of God living inside the body of his perfect Son. Brittany has forgotten the moment when I first told her I loved her. But nonetheless, this forgetting does not change the fact that I love her and that I remember when I first spoke those words to her. I will always remember that moment. God, our perfect parent, and Christ the perfect son will always remember when they loved us into being. Together, they continually gaze upon us with perfect love – the Holy Spirit. They will never stop asking us if we remember their love, and most importantly, they will continually show us how to re-experience this love.
Each of us must live our own personal, and very spiritual, journey towards God. Life’s ups and downs make up this journey. There will be strife, Brittany and I have experienced pain and heartache too. Hopefully, as we remain faithful and continually return to Christ in our human weakness, we will be able to joyfully respond to God when he asks if we remember the first words he spoke to us by saying – I remember your words God; “I love you “Carolyn”!
Global Light For Christ
Living as human beings means that we will get lost from time to time. When we are lost we will forget that we have a parent that loves us beyond all measure, whose first words to us were words of love. And sadly, we will forget that in order to return home to God we must follow Christ. We must learn to love like he did. If you are striving to love like Christ and grow in love then our prayer community, Global Light For Christ, would love to pray for you. I invite you to place your petition below. And most importantly, I invite all our readers to pray for one another, praying that we all experience the perfect love of our Triune God.
God bless all of you. See you next week Friday – Carolyn
God the Father – hold us in your Fatherly love.
God the Son – bring us through yourself.
God the Holy Spirit – immerse us in divine love.
Today’s Readings: Acts 13:26-33; Psalm 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11AB; Alleluia John 14:6; John 14:1-6
