Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Seven swans a-swimming (the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, the 7 Sacraments of the Catholic faith)

Sunday, December 31, 2000

Luke 2:41-52
Luke 2:41-52 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old...the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. After three days they found him...he went down to Nazareth and was obedient...But his mother treasured all thee things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

On his 13th birthday (12th birthday for girls), Jewish boys become "sons of the commandment," or bar mitzvahs. The ceremonies and celebration accompanying that moment have become a joyful part of Jewish growing up.

A bar mitzvah is held responsible for his actions, obligated to observe the commandments of his people. This moment of taking responsibility is set upon the foundation of years with his parents, learning from them by their words and their actions what it means to be an obedient child of God. Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem "every year." They obeyed God every day. Thus they taught Jesus.

Margaret and I are parents. We watch Chris, Marc and Andrea grow in stature and in wisdom, and we want them to live in favor with God and men. We want them to grow far beyond where we could take them, building on their strengths and turning their weakness over to God. We can show them something of the way, but the rest they discover in their larger world, what community they can find in our modern, privatized world.

Joseph and Mary did not look for Jesus for a whole day. What a close-knit community they must have had! Parents trusted their relatives and friends with their children; Mary simply assumed that Jesus was safe. We do our children a great disservice by closing ourselves off from the community, by reserving them for ourselves. We cannot teach them all they need to know. And when we grasp too tightly, we also need to be reminded that we are simply caring for them, pointing them to their true parent, to their Heavenly Father.

In The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran says to us as parents:
"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself...
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you,
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
As living arrows are sent forth.
The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
And He bends you with his might
That his arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
So He loves the bow that is stable."

Lord, use me as a bow for your arrows, and when we are done remind me that I will always be your child. On this last day of a thousand years, and on every day, sharpen me again and send me flying toward your goal for me now. Let me resolve to be a willing instrument, bow or arrow, in your hands.

Devotions Archive

Seven swans a-swimming (the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, the 7 Sacraments of the Catholic faith)

Sunday, December 31, 2000