Today is September 11th. It has been 19 years since that tragic day that claimed so many lives, that day that will live on in our memories forever. I can’t believe so much time has passed, especially since I remember so vividly exactly where I was and what I was doing. I recall how surreal it all was.
I am pretty sure 2020 will go down in much the same fashion. 20 years from now we will look back on this year and remember all the people that got sick, all the things we had to do without, all the businesses that were closed and how we had to wear masks wherever we went. Perhaps we will even remember the fear we felt and the desire for it all to go away, as if it were some sort of horribly bad dream.
But the one thing about both September 11th and 2020 is that time marches on, and either they are long past or soon will be. Time marches on, leaving tragedy and illness in its wake. When I think too long and hard about time it often scares me. The moment I typed this line is already gone, never to return. My childhood is gone, my young adulthood gone… It really makes me yearn for heaven, where past, present and future are one in the same reality.
I love St. Paul’s comparison of our earthly lives being a race. “Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, be we an imperishable one.” Run so as to win… train, push yourself, never give up, keep your eye on the goal…
Then the Psalm goes on to lead our thoughts farther upward: “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
Sometimes we are so busy and so preoccupied that we fail to remember that Earth is not our home. Sometimes we are content and living a relatively happy life and wish that Earth were our home. It is often during the trying times that our hearts turn heavenward.
My family just moved over the weekend. As we came across numerous obstacles: running out of space in the moving truck, furniture that wouldn’t fit in the door, wrong dryer fixtures, kids running all over the place and getting lost, exhausted bodies and brains… you better believe that heaven was sounding pretty awesome.
Perhaps today we could reflect a bit on our heavenly home and whether or not we are “training” properly to reach that goal. May our hearts cry out with all sincerity: “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!”
Tami Urcia grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. She loves tackling home improvement projects, finding fun ways to keep her four boys occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby and finding unique ways to love. She works at Diocesan, is a guest blogger on CatholicMom.com and BlessedIsShe.net, runs her own blog at https://togetherandalways.wordpress.com and has been doing Spanish translations on the side for almost 20 years.
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