Mothers’ Network (11/09/2024)

Yesterday, I met a young woman for coffee in a small-town coffee shop. When I got to the location, I couldn’t find a parking place. I wondered what was going on that would bring so many people to that area. When I stepped into the coffee shop a few minutes later, I found the reason. It was story hour for tots. But what was really happening was a mothers’ network.

The mothers of the tots sat at a large table, sipped their drinks and shared. I watched as they slowly “unwound” and relaxed. I heard them as their laughter grew and their excitement in sharing increased. I had to smile. When I was a mom their age, the mothers’ network was the backyard clotheslines, and the women shared as they hung the laundry to dry and as the children played together in the yards. The times have changed, but the need for support from one another has not.

We all need that “network” connection, that realization that we are not alone. With Christ in our lives, we know that in our head. However, it helps when we encounter another along the way, struggling with similar challenges, with whom we can talk, laugh, exchange ideas, and pray. It’s not just mothers, we all need that, even though we may not realize it.

The LORD created us in relationship and for relationship. The essential relationship is with our creator, redeemer, and sanctifier – with our LORD. But we also need those critical support relationships, those down-to-earth relationships with friends and peers. Christ will always be “the Way and the Truth and the Life,” but we must recall that when Christ sent out the disciples, He sent them in twos. Christ realized our need for companions on the journey.

We need to recognize that need and establish relationships with others “on the Way.”

We can do that after Church on the weekends, stopping to visit with others outside of church. We can do that by joining in scripture studies and coming to know others “on the Way.” We can do it in the Knights of Columbus or the Council of Catholic Women, sharing time, struggles, and faith with our peers. As we do, we come to recognize common struggles, and we come to feel the support of others who empathize with us but also seek to encourage us along the way.

We are not meant to make this journey alone. We have our LORD with us always and everywhere, but even our LORD recognized that we humans also need flesh and blood, and He sent His only Begotten Son to dwell among us, to journey with us, to show us the way, and draw us back to our Father Almighty.

This day, may we have the time to walk with another, even if it is for only a short time, and to share our love for the LORD by loving those who the LORD sent to share our journeys.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.