love adopted us

  I could never find just one picture that captures what it is to be a mother.  It is countless memories layered year by year. The intertwining of moments and days and years.  It is three decades that flew into today and tomorrow.  It is hopes realized and dreams achieved, and it is sometimes regrets and sorrow.  It is wanting to hold on and needing to let go.  It is skinned knees, weekend sports, diplomas, and weddings.  It is wonder and beauty.  It is God's design and I am deeply grateful for the privilege of being  a Mom.

              In Luke 5:4-7, we hear a story that starts with faith and obedience and ends with a miracle. Jesus has just finished talking to a large crowd. He has been making his speech from the boat of Peter who has loaned him its use. Maybe as a way to thank Peter, Jesus gives Peter a command “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” It is important to know that Peter and his partners had already been fishing all night. They had exhausted all their resources and caught nothing. Peter tells Jesus this exact thing. But they go back to the deep water. The word used in this passage deep is interesting. The Hebrew word means “ water in commotion ” and the Greek means “ abyss .” Isn’t this just what it feels like when the Holy Spirit shows us a new direction where we are to go; it feels like an abyss. What does it mean to go deep ? We know what shallow is. Children play in shallow water. It is a place where our feet can touch the bottom. It feels secure. When our c