Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip...
Ironically, these are the words that were on a bus stop bench near Katie and Tommy's house that Laurie had commented on. And there is great truth in these words. Faith is a journey with so many ups and downs, stops and starts. God speaks, then He doesn't. Today my faith is solid as a rock; oops, where did God go? Wow, that New Comunity spoke right to my heart...Gee, that message wasn't relative to me at all. See what I mean? Faith is about baby steps, baby steps in the hardest, most gut wrenching times.
Thinking about my faith journey, starting so long ago. Someone inviting me to a Pioneer Girls Awana type thing. I loved the crafts, the songs but I certainly did not make any decision to accept Christ then. I just wanted to have fun. Fifteen years later a couple, Brian and Sheran, come into my life and I clearly saw their faith in how they just lived their lives. A baby step. Then accepting Him. More baby steps. It has been a journey, with stops and starts along the way.
Laurie's journey should not have been a guilt trip. And most of it was not but somewhere she hit a wall and let guilt or whatever cloud over her. I just flipped through one of her journals and here is a little of what she wrote, "It was so cool to be with my family, who I know will always be there for me. They are each so important to me and I long to know their hearts to the fullest potential. Some of them need to hear about God's unending love so desperately. I hope to be able to let them hear about Him more through my words and actions. My Grandma Broscovak and I were able to talk for about 25 minutes about nothing but my baptism. She wanted to hear more about its' significance in my life. She was so attentive and asked me a lot of questions which I was able to answer... " That little interchange was part of the process for my mom to accept Christ . Tomorrow's is the 1st anniversary of Mom's death. My faith tells me exactly where she is and where Laurie is. Faith is a journey, NOT a guilt trip. Yahoo for that!
posted by Barb K @ 7:44 PM
2 Comments:
Mom,
What absolute truth in those words! Our path to faith has to be a journey; and it's a journey that we EACH must take, otherwise we're just living on borrowed beliefs.
I want to thank you for allowing me to make my own mistakes as I've figured out my faith journey. Through my 36 years as your son, you have never forced me to believe anything or do anything I didn't want to. You lovingly taught me from your experiences, but then let me solve the rest myself. Mom, you or Dad did not put a guilt trip into my choosing to follow Christ.
I think back to when you let me attend Rice University in 1987. Rice was and is a very secular and liberal university. It was far from a conservative Christian college. Furthermore, it was 1,000 miles from home, and surely outside of your direct "line of sight" into my activities. I certainly made some major league poor decisions there, but you always loved me and validated me as a person.
So it continues.. You unconditionally loved Chris through his years at Indiana U, then Michigan. You masterfully loved Katie throughout her life choices during Iowa U and afterward. I think you may have written the book on how to love your kids while they stumble and stray. All 5 of us kids have strayed in each our own ways. Major and minor.
YET, you have loved us non-stop through our journeys. And THAT is how parenting is done, and done well.
I am so very lucky.
greg
Mama, you are so right on! Thank you so much for having the courage to allow us all to become the people we are today. You have been so faithful in pointing us in the direction of truth, and yet still holding back enough to give each of us (Greg, Chris, Kristin, myself, and most certainly Laurie) the freedom to feel God bring us home on our own. I am forever grateful for the things I have (and always will) learned from you, and hope that I will be a brave enough mother to my babies, too to always show them how loved they are, beyond this earth! (Plus it's cool to have you to back me up when I am not sure what I am doing! You are the Grandma of the century!)
As far as a guilt trip, I think that what you did for us, by showing us Jesus, is the furthest thing in the world from "guilting us into religion." In fact, it is your duty, your responsibility as a parent to instill values, and truths into us. What sort of parent would you be if you did not make it a priority to raise your children up to seek the sort of love that you know from Christ? You would be the parent who is backing out on the promise you made to God, to devote yourself to Him. You would be a parent ashamed of your faith, if you were too weak to show it to your children. You would be a parent lacking a foundation of your own to support your children in building thier own.
Mommy, thank you for being a pillar of strength, a vision of what God has planned for all of us, and a testament to how amazing our Father is, to have created such a beauty as you! I love you forever!
Always,
Katie
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