Constant Teaching
Good evening friends and prayer warriors
Thank you for continuing to travel with us as we journey along this path of faith led by Catie and lit by God. I have a little daily devotion book and today’s bible passage was: “Teach God’s commandments to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:19). Two thoughts struck me as I reflected on that passage, one was that as disciples and as parents, we are called to teach, and the other is that God asks us to be constant. Prayer is not just an activity that we engage in at sunrise, sunset and meals, but a state of mind that transforms the ordinary actions of our day into constant prayer and communication with God. Today had many twists and turns both in Mechanicsburg and at St. Jude’s. Twists and turns are a part of every person’s life in every single day. There were many opportunities for the frustration that we all feel to cause the day to spin out of control as many days have recently. But God, who models the very behavior that He asks of us and knows the good that will emerge from it, taught us constantly today and gave us the grace to start the day with a special blessing that carried us through the day. I had the opportunity to start my day with a prayer with each of the “fab 5”. While that means that M.E. and Molly were awake at 6:30 in the morning, (not usually a desirable circumstance), we shared a prayer and they both went back to bed. Mia, Max, and Maggie and I all were up and dressed early enough to stop and say a decade of the rosary. 2 hours later at work, I called Christine just as her alarm was going off and she and I and Catie who was sleeping in her bed shared a few prayers as well including our new version of the Our Father which adds to the line, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and the desire to eat it.
To say that the day had no potential stumbling blocks would be inaccurate. To say that because we had each taken the time to listen to our heavenly Father and invite Him into our day made all the difference in the world would be spot on accurate. The crazy and amazing thing is that I know that a day will come upon me when I will forget, overlook, rush through a morning and not remember today’s lesson and then wonder why my frustration goes unchecked in that day. That human frailty of mine is why God continues to teach me, because just like my kids, I need to be reminded. It is funny to me that I can look at Mia and ask her why she does not have her napkin in her lap and wonder how many times I have to tell her the “same thing over and over again”. Thank God that God is more tolerant than I am. Catie did well today. She has yet to need a transfusion of red blood cells or platelets in round 2 and her white blood cell count continues to drop indicating that the chemo did its thing. Once they hit rock bottom, she will start the climb back up to safe levels where she will once again be able to fight infection.
We received another great piece of news. If you remember back in September, Catie had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC and make a commercial for St. Jude with Jason Taylor, the football player for the Redskins and last year’s runner-up on Dancing with the Stars. Last night on that show, the commercial aired for the first time and it really came out great! It will be running on all of the networks as a lead in to the St. Jude “Thanks and Giving” special with Marlo Thomas. In case you want to see it without watching TV, here is the link: http://www.tg.stjude.org/celebfriends.html. Just click on the picture of Jason and look for the beautiful little girl in pink with the great smile.
As we closed the day, the “fab 5” and I hopped in the car, (they hopped, I hobbled. Knee surgery for me yesterday to repair my ACL, meniscus, and some arthritis. Thank you Ed for driving me around and mothering me.) We drove to St. Theresa’s Church in New Cumberland where they have perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I asked the kids if they would mind if I went in for a quick visit with Jesus while they waited in the car and listened to music. After pointing out that she was proud of the church for spelling her name correctly, Theresa (Mia) asked if she could go in with me. Maggie and Max wanted to know why they could not go in and visit, and then Molly and M.E. asked to go in as well. So in the six of us went with the little ones in my arms, (because they had not brought their shoes). We spent a few minutes visiting and I was proud that they did not disturb the other people in the chapel and then we left, came home and showered everyone and went to bed. Constant teaching. Thank you God for showing us the way and asking us to help you.
May God who loves you enough to teach you constantly and never tire of teaching you the same lessons again and again shower you with a grace that gives you peace, strengthens you and emboldens you to share what you have learned. Go hug your loved ones and know that we appreciate all of the long distance hugs you send our way.
Love,
Christine, Kevin, Maggie, Max, Catie, Mia, Molly, M.E. and Megan
