A weary mother returned from the store,
Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.
Awaiting her arrival was her 8-year-old son,
Anxious to relate what his younger brother had done.
"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,
T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!
It's on the new paper you just hung in the den.
I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again."
She let out a moan and furrowed her brow,
"Where is your little brother right now?"
She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.
She called his full name as she entered his room.
He trembled with fear--he knew that meant doom!
For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.
Lamenting all the work it would take to repair,
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.
The more she scolded, the madder she got,
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!
She headed for the den to confirm her fears.
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.
The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.
It said, "I love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.
Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.
A reminder to her, and indeed to all,
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall!
Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.
Awaiting her arrival was her 8-year-old son,
Anxious to relate what his younger brother had done.
"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,
T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!
It's on the new paper you just hung in the den.
I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again."
She let out a moan and furrowed her brow,
"Where is your little brother right now?"
She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.
She called his full name as she entered his room.
He trembled with fear--he knew that meant doom!
For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.
Lamenting all the work it would take to repair,
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.
The more she scolded, the madder she got,
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!
She headed for the den to confirm her fears.
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.
The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.
It said, "I love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.
Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.
A reminder to her, and indeed to all,
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall!
This amazing poem by an unidentified author captures both the child-like carefree world of a child and the awesome message for all of us to take the time to read the handwriting on the wall. To be like a child is to embrace life, to be full of joy and to live in the moment. Now that I am a grand-father, Pops by the way, I marvel at those wonderful moments when my grandchildren bring me so much joy and laughter!
As people of faith we are called to follow Jesus with the joy and total trust like a child!
This week we find ourselves in the 9th chapter of Mark, right after the Transfiguration and Jesus again is teaching His disciples about his upcoming passion, death and resurrection. We already know from last week's Gospel that they really do not fully understand what Jesus is telling them. They still are expecting Jesus to fully claim His kingship by human power and military conquest. But Jesus is preparing them for what is truly about to happen.
As the disciples argued and fought along the way about their own self-importance, Jesus takes a child in his arms and tells them: "whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me but the One who sent me. Why a little child? In the culture of the day when this event took place children had little if no status. They were a symbol of dependence, innocence and vulnerability yet legally regarded as no more than a servant. No coincedence then that this passage follows Jesus' teaching about being first and being a servant. Interestingly, the Greek word used by St. Mark is interchangeable for child or servant.
Jesus reminds his followers and us that to desire being first calls for being last of all and servant of all! If we want to follow Jesus, if we can endure and persevere the difficulties associated with following Him, we must trust fully, abandoning our self interests and depending not on self but depending on Him. A child can do this! Just as a child can't survive without help from parents, teachers and others, all of us can't survive without faith in Jesus and trust in the Father. Jesus calls us to self-empty; rid ourselves of self importance, ego and pride and learn to depend on Him and trust in His mercy and love. When we realize that He never fails us and He never let's us down, then we will be free; we will have true peace.
And let's not forget Jesus also calls us as servants to serve our brothers and sisters. Again, service requires us to self-empty, to rid ourselves of self importance, ego and pride as we meet the needs of others. We are called to love and to serve without ever counting the cost.
In the week ahead, can we pray with this Scripture and ask, in what way this week will I approach my relationship with my Savior like that of a child? In the week ahead, will I approach my brothers and sisters with a servants heart, desiring more to serve others than to be served? Can we pray for that reality of receiving Jesus Christ in our lives and receiving the One who sent Him like Jesus received that little child?
Jesus reminds his followers and us that to desire being first calls for being last of all and servant of all! If we want to follow Jesus, if we can endure and persevere the difficulties associated with following Him, we must trust fully, abandoning our self interests and depending not on self but depending on Him. A child can do this! Just as a child can't survive without help from parents, teachers and others, all of us can't survive without faith in Jesus and trust in the Father. Jesus calls us to self-empty; rid ourselves of self importance, ego and pride and learn to depend on Him and trust in His mercy and love. When we realize that He never fails us and He never let's us down, then we will be free; we will have true peace.
And let's not forget Jesus also calls us as servants to serve our brothers and sisters. Again, service requires us to self-empty, to rid ourselves of self importance, ego and pride as we meet the needs of others. We are called to love and to serve without ever counting the cost.
In the week ahead, can we pray with this Scripture and ask, in what way this week will I approach my relationship with my Savior like that of a child? In the week ahead, will I approach my brothers and sisters with a servants heart, desiring more to serve others than to be served? Can we pray for that reality of receiving Jesus Christ in our lives and receiving the One who sent Him like Jesus received that little child?
A famous Bishop, John Michael McNamara, after a long and distinguished life of serving others with child-like abandonment, was told in 1960 that he had but weeks left to live. He reportedly said this in response to facing death: Soon, everything I have will be taken from me. But everything I have ever given, will soon return to me 100-fold!
You see if we live our life with the faith of a child, the faith of someone desiring to serve and not be served, if we constantly read the handwriting on the wall, we will receive even more than we have ever given. All that we are, all that we give, all that we love, all that we share, all of our faithfulness, will indeed return to us 100-fold and more. And like a child, that gives me great joy!
So may this be a reminder to us and a reminder to all, please take the time to read the handwriting on the wall!
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