My oldest son turned 24
recently. When it comes to the soul, however, time is irrelevant and memory can
melt away the years in a second. When I looked at my grown son my mind took me
back to one very special time only a few weeks after his birth. I had awakened
in the middle of the night after hearing him stir in his cradle. My wife was
still recovering from the emergency c-section that was needed when complications
occurred during his delivery. Wanting to let her rest, I picked my boy up and
slowly walked into the living room.
Taking a bottle with me I sat down in our rocking
chair and fed him while I gently rocked us both. His loving, innocent eyes gazed
up at me and I smiled down at him. After feeding him and burping him I watched
him fall asleep on my shoulder. I continued to rock and looked out the window at
the starry, night sky. In that second, time stood still and I felt something I
had never felt before: true peace. All the worries of life faded away. Every
desire, want, and fear of the future seemed meaningless. All the anger,
frustration, hatred, greed, jealousy, envy, and sadness that had plagued me in
my life melted away from my heart. All that was left was that moment of perfect
peace. All that was left was a feeling of oneness with God carried straight into
my soul on the wings of love and joy. I sat there with tears in my eyes,
thanking God for my baby boy and for this wondrous feeling of peace.
That special moment started a change in me. Material
things soon lost their importance. What I wanted instead was the peace that I
had felt in that moment. What I wanted was the joy and oneness with God that
went with it. What I wanted was to show everyone how to have it as well.
Thankfully, that peace isn’t hard to find. It is waiting for us in every loving
choice we make, prayer we pray, and thing we do. May it find you always.
Joseph J. Mazzella joemazzella@frontier.com
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