Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Parenting on Water

Have you ever walked on water? Yeah, me neither...well, wait a minute, maybe I have.

Today's Gospel reading is from Matthew 14:22:36. It's the famous story of Jesus walking on the water during a storm and calling Peter out of the boat to walk with him. While I want to be harsh with Peter and say to him, "Duh, it's Jesus, why are you sinking?" I have the benefit of knowing how the Gospels end - Jesus wins. Sure, Peter was friends with Jesus, but all the pieces didn't fall into place until after the Resurrection.

As I read the Gospel this morning the usual thoughts ran through my head: would I get out of a boat if Jesus called me?; when will Peter figure out that Jesus is legit?; what exactly freightened Peter?.  But then I thought of something I said to a couple of friends last night.  They read yesterday's blog and we had a laugh over how crazy being a parent can be.  I said, "When we got home from the hospital with our son I couldn't believe it.  They just let us leave with him.  What the heck did I know about being a mom?"  

Suddenly, I had a new appreciation for this reading and for Peter.  Being a parent, heck living life, is a lot like walking on water with Jesus.  Some days I'm cocky and fantastic thinking, "Oh yeah, I've got this Mommy-thing down."  Other days I am treading water and praying I don't drown.  

I applied my questions for Peter to myself.  I didn't realize that being a parent meant that I had to get out of the boat, but Jesus called me to it so here I am.  Jesus is never going to let me drown...and when will I figure that out?  There have been a myriad of things that have scared me and caused me to tread water.  On the days I miss the mark on being like Jesus, then being like St. Peter isn't too bad.  



No comments:

Post a Comment