In today’s Gospel, Joseph and Mary are presenting Jesus to God in a religious ritual.  They are accepting that this child belongs to God and that they are entrusted with the honor of raising this child of God.

I was 25 years old, when my journey into motherhood began.  I was overwhelmed with joy to share my body with a tiny little miracle of life.  I was entrusted with a child of God to love and protect.  My life was full of prayers and promises for God’s child growing within me.  The precious heart that beat faster than I could possibly count…was, for now, safe within my womb.

God willing, one day the baby would be born, the cord would be cut, and this child of God would be transformed into a separate life…a beautiful creation…that God gifted into my care.  Gratefully, I brought each of my 3 children to the baptismal font.  I acknowledged that my child was a gift from God, but also that my child belongs to God, from the moment they were conceived until eternal life.  My children are on loan to me from God to care for until He calls us home. My children are my legacy and they, too, will follow Christ.   

As a Youth Minister, I’ve also been entrusted by God with thousands and thousands of teenagers to love and protect as I helped them find their faith over the past 42 years.  It brings me great honor that I am able to bring glory to God through my ministry.   

I have so many questions that I’d like to ask Jesus.  One that I continue to struggle with is why God allows someone the joy of conceiving a child, only to have the baby’s heart stop beating before it even has a chance to be born.  When my daughter had a miscarriage, our grief and broken hearts were unbearable.  I realized that sometimes accepting God’s will seem a shallow reply to deep sorrow and loss and tragedy and illness and suffering.  Today’s Gospel is a reminder that each of us are only here on loan as a gift from God.  We don’t know His long-term plan for us.  We do know that life is difficult, but life is beautiful.  No one gets through life without scars.  Yet, our scars are what often defines us and our faith.

Jesus did not come into this world to answer all of my questions.  He came to answer for my many sins, not to fulfill my dreams.  He came to teach me what life is meant for, like caring and loving those that God places in my path.  He came to help prepare me for the day when I will enjoy eternal life in paradise because of the way that I lived my life on earth.  Please help me to pray for my daughter…my child of God.