Family Ties

Yesterday, my day started out with Baby K and I going to Mass. For me, this is a nearly perfect way to start a day. The baby got a kiss and a blessing from the priest, and the congregation got a smile as Little K began making reeeeally noisy sucking sounds with her mouth during a particularly quiet part of the Mass. She’s a corker, that one.

The gospel was from St. Matthew, and it too made me smile. The gospel says that Jesus told his friends that once they got to Jerusalem, He would be arrested and condemned to death, but then would be raised three days later. The apostles didn’t have a clue what he meant, more than likely. In this part of the gospel, at least, Matthew doesn’t tell us what they said about this astounding and sad news.

What it does say, however, is that the mother of James and John immediately stepped up to Jesus and asked Him to allow her sons to sit at His right and left hands when He is back in the kingdom.

Isn’t that such a mother thing to do?

Jesus responded to her by saying, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup that I’m going to drink?” In other words, her sons’ eternal future is not up to her but is up to God, so butt out Mom.

Still, it reminded me of all of the times when I was bringing up my own son when I did whatever I could do to make sure he had the best of everything. It’s what mothers do. Fathers too, of course. Generally speaking, parents instinctively take care of their kids, and it doesn’t stop when the kids become adults.

Following Mass, the baby and I drove to Loveland to spend several hours with my father. Little Miss K is not one to necessarily warm up to people with whom she is not extremely familiar. Because of this, I wasn’t sure how she would respond to my dad, as she has only seen him a couple of times in her little short life. Much to my surprise, she took to him immediately. Watching her sit on his lap while he softly spoke to her made my heart soar! She just looked at him and studied his face and smiled like she saw him every day of her life.

It brought me back to my thoughts of that morning. Family ties are very strong. My father loves his kids, his grandkids, and his great-grandkids, without even trying, and we all love him back. The family tie is very strong.

It certainly was for the mother of James and John.