(F)ather (A)nd (M)other (I) (L)ove (Y)ou

Mark S. Roberti, Director of Stewardship

Heartland Parishes of Ellis County

FAMILY, that’s what’s important.  Today, I take my thoughts from an email which did not claim an author.  He or she hit the nail squarely on the head.  Life is about family, our families, and our family of faith.

In various stanzas, the reflection speaks of a parent who is kind and courteous to a stranger, then comes home and responds sharply to his or her child.   The youngster’s little heart is broken.  As the parent reflects upon it in bed that night he/she hears God’s voice in a whisper:

“While dealing with a stranger,

common courtesy you use,

But the family of love, you seem to abuse.”

Then God tells the parent to go look on the kitchen floor.  The parent does so and on the floor are flowers the son has picked.  The parent wakes the child and tells him how much he is loved.

The closing part of the reflection reads:

And are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company

That we are working for could easily replace us

in a matter of days.

But the family we left behind will feel the loss

for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it

we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family,

an unwise investment in deed,

don’t your think?

How foolish we are!  It reminds me of the Book of Ecclesiastics, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ec 1:2-3)  

What is so important to us that we so often seek unimportant things?  Whenever I go to a national or regional stewardship conference there seems to be a speaker who proclaims a now standard stewardship mantra: “The main thing is to know the main thing, and keep the main thing the main thing.” 

Vanity of vanities…we’re so busy chasing other things that we forget the most important thing, our relationship with God and each other.   

I’m guilty.  I’d guess you are too.  If that’s going to change, whom should we expect will change it?  If not now, when? 

What a tragedy for people important to us to move on in life, or die, without us ever spending the quality time that we could have with them.   What a tragedy that we can’t show people, through the gift of our time, just how special they are to us.

Vanity of vanities…how often we relegate our relationship with God and one another to that of a less consequential status?   

Family… (F)ather (A)nd (M)other (I) (L)ove (Y)our.  Give…(G)od (I) (V)alue (E)verything.  That’s S-T-E-W-A-R-D-S-H-I-P.  It’s about relationship.