“What, then, will this child be?
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”
As a child is born, while I patiently wait for him or her to cry so I can be relieved and hand over the newborn to the pediatrician… I often wonder what is the child going to be … a teacher , a politician, a housewife or maybe not make it through the first year of life!
As a life develops in any mothers womb, it is nothing short of a human miracle and despite all the advances in technology and science trying to artificially produce human embryos, they do fail or work with some processes totally unknown to us! Same with us as we grow into adults , we have instances where we fail, we dont know what we want to be or dont have ant clue about the life ahead of us!
Recently I bumped into a schoolmate who I had not seen in a decade, while she introduced me to her family as the girl who aced all classes and always wanted to be a doctor, it made me wonder why I actually wished to be one as a child. Is it cause my mother made me believe that doctors never fall ill or take medicines ( which I detested and still do !)or cause I just didnt know any other profession!(typical Indian behavior) What if I never got the grades? or what if I changed my mind later in life to maybe be a dancer ?
This child was chosen by God to be a prophet and proclaim the way for His only son on earth! Zechariah and Elizabeth had no say in this! They just followed suit and voila! John the Baptist! And no scope of other choices just like me!
As a child we are conditioned into many aspects of life, we learn prejudices and judgments from family, friends, people we spend time with, pick vices and virtues too which ultimately lead us to our adult thought and lifestyle. Residing in a state where we had to attend Sunday Mass and recite prayers before we left the house or drive or eat, it becomes more of a muscle memory rather than a genuine relationship with God.
Like every overthinking adult, I questioned my faith and still do, so when my father was diagnosed while I went through the motions to get his treatment, I watched my mind distance from the faith and have no urge to even participate in a simple prayer! As I wrestled with my faith and temptations more than ever before, I sought advice from humans who are not from my faith and got pushed further down the pit hole!
A heartfelt confession and constant thinking later, I realised it was all His plan, to make me realise I had to come back for Him and as I was contemplating my recent thoughts and worries , I was listening to a podcast “Abiding together” where i heard the most beautiful prayer !
Today and everyday when you feel overwhelmed or shaken through life and your faith .. let us turn to these simple words of St Teresa and close our eyes and breathe slowly as we recite it….
AMEN!
