Alone on this Tuesday morning, resting and relaxing for just a moment, thinking fondly of our last week with grandson Calvin as we celebrated his 1st birthday! It is a great time to reflect and my reflection is on the concept of BEING! Take my role as grandfather as an example. Now I love being a grandparent, I go by Pops by the way! As a grandparent, I love my #1 grandson with unconditional love. Unfortunately, separated by 820 miles makes it impossible to be in his presence that often. Despite this reality, I have managed 6 trips to visit, a precious 28 days over the first 365 days of his young life. I can recall every one of those days. Thanks to a commitment from Calvin's mom & dad, we also Skype with Calvin almost every Sunday. Those too are precious visits. No one would dare suggest to me that because of these circumstances I am Calvin's "pops" only on Sunday or those other 28 days when I actually got to play and visit with Calvin. I am "pops" all the time. My reality of being a grandparent is more about BEING than doing!
The same could be said about being a dad. God blessed me with two wonderful children, James, Calvin's daddy, and Elizabeth, Calvin's "Aunt Bizzie". They both have been a joy, both as youngsters and now as adults. James is a successful veterinarian and Elizabeth has embarked on the noble profession of teaching after completing her master's degree. These things make me proud! My love for them, however, comes not from their degrees or careers but from who they are; from their BEING! And my role of father does not turn on and turn off like a faucet based on sharing my time with them or talking with them on the phone. Despite time and distance and their advancing career and personal lives, I am "dad" all the time. My reality of being a dad is more about BEING than doing!
Certainly I can say the same about being a husband. Wendy and I are married now over 36 years, after dating since the 9th grade. I love telling people that yes indeed I married the girl that went to the prom with me! Over these years, we have changed and grown and experienced all the many things that a loving couple would. Sometimes things get hectic, even manic, yet there we are, 36 years later, a married couple in love and always growing closer to each other and our God. Our marriage is more about BEING, who WE are, than about doing. My reality as a husband is more about BEING than doing!
Ordained a Permanent Deacon now some 5 years ago, this office, this title, this reality is too much, much more about BEING than doing! As you follow me here on this blog or personally, I speak all too often about some of that doing; assisting at Mass, going to the prison, baptizing, preparing couples for marriage, and more. Some who I encounter frame me as a Deacon when I am doing these things. Not so, not so. The ordination to the diaconate, Holy Orders, a Sacrament, marked me and sealed me in that special way where I am Deacon always, even when I'm doing things like going to work, being "pops" or "dad" or "husband" and when I'm cutting grass or going to the store or watching LSU & the Saints. Oh yes, my reality as a Deacon is more about BEING than doing!
Reflect with me the rest of this week about BEING rather than doing. When we truly understand this, it also helps us put the proper focus on God, rather than self. In embracing the BEING of who I am rather than the doing of what I do, I rest in the beauty that I am a totally dependent creature of God, fully in need of his loving mercy so that I may BE all that he expects of me!
Enjoy the rest of this week contemplating your BEING!
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