before we ever existed..

Obedience. Oh, how we chaff at the word. 

"You're not the boss of me, "a child shrieks at another. "Don't tell me what to do",  another, a teen, yells through her closed room door. So when I saw the title of Merton's mediation for today, my interest was about a -2 on the Richter scale."The Sacrifice of Obedience" was the title and as he usually does, Merton brings me around. The following quote did me it:

" Blessed are the pure of heart who leave everything to God now as they did before they ever existed." Meister Eckhart. What???

 What was it like for us before we existed? Immediately, a memory so pure, so precious,  surfaced. A phone call from my son many years ago that told of a conversation he and his three year old had the night before. Riley told his Dad that God told him that the time was right for him to leave heaven and go to earth by entering his mother's tummy. He had to go down the long flight of stairs alone and start his new life.So, leaving everything to God, he did just that and was born here with us 19 years ago. My son, asked if he was afraid and Riley said: "No. but he had to do this alone."

 So that's what it was like before he existed.God spoke and Riley obeyed and that was the beginning.How many children have memories like this before they forget?Maybe this is why we are exhorted to be like little children.God speaks, we obey and His will is done.And earth become heaven, here and now.And the fists unfurl, the brick are dropped, smiles appear and love flows freely like the great Hudson River and touches each of us.