God-Moments from Childhood

Woman and Child

I think most of us are to some extent hypocrites--not "perfect" hypocrites, but rather people who fail at things--even some things  that we try to hold dear.  

I was talking to some friends recently about how some habits that our kids take on really can set us off--aggravate us!  And upon reflection, those habits are often failures of our own and they set us off because we see that our kids are carrying them on despite our best (or worst) efforts. 

Frank Zappa use to say, "We are all bozos on this bus." We are all sinners. 

Of course, it is important for us to pick ourselves up after each failing and attempt to get past it--to do better--to live better--and to be better. 

Often, I look back at my childhood for life lessons. All my relatives had blemishes.  They committed sins. As a kid you didn't dwell on this kind of stuff, but in those days people would sometimes be crushed from the weight of guilt and disappointment. For Catholics, we understand that sins are painful to us and those we have hurt, but our beliefs tell us to get past them. I don't think the church wants us to wallow in misery, although some people believe we should. 

Some people can't get over even one rejection.  A "Dear John" letter is more than they can handle.  Sometimes one rejection leads to violence. But people often have more than one romantic relationship and most get beyond the tough ones.  However, as people get older, they sometimes bring back events in their lives and allow them to take a bigger place than they actually had when they occurred.  I suppose this is natural, but I think it can be harmful. 

Some of the happiest people I have known in their 40s, end up as "sad sacks" in their 70s.  They look back and decide they want to be miserable and that their lives were more troubled than they let on.  I think this is more an age thing than actual disappointment.  They slept like a baby in their 40s and 50s, so they weren't obsessed then, why be obsessed now?  Sometimes I think we need to take lessons on how to get older gracefully! 

I remember one relative who had some very sad moments in her life and those moments would have crushed most people.  As a kid, I never gave her credit for her ability to keep going on.  Her life, like many of ours was messy, but she was a woman who had faith and she was a darn good "prayor." She had fortitude. 

My church men's group is called "That Man is You." And our group leader asks us each week if we had any God-moments. When I look back at my life, I often think of this relative of mine and how she presented us with many God-moments, one at a time, when we were young.  Sometimes it was an Irish story, sometimes a prayer, and sometimes it was encouragement and assurance that God was out there for us all. I hope the Good Lord gives her credit for it.  Our lives can be disappointing at times, but maybe we can inspire others. Maybe we can summon up God-moments for others. 

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Lawrence Norris is the author of The Brown and White and the publisher of Pilgrimage and other fine books.