Lent: Awareness and Intention

Today's video reminds me of a wonderful young man by the name of Luke Nothaft.  Yesterday, Luke's family celebrated the fourth anniversary of his second birthday at home with God.  The way they celebrated was to ask his friends and family to celebrate with them this way:  "Luke loved a lot of things. He loved them in the full-throated, unimpeachable way of someone drunk with the possibilities of life. So, we'd like to ask you to do one act of love this week. One act that puts others or the world above yourself."

When Luke was born, he had a couple of organs outside his body.  Between all the surgeries and hospitalizations, the doctors told Luke's parents he only had a 3% chance to live at all, and would likely never see 5.  Then they decided, he'd never live to get to high school, let alone be able to comprehend enough for school.  God, however, had different plans, and Luke lived until he was 16, and like most of his family, spoke both English and Spanish.  He made a huge difference in people's lives during the short time he was here, affecting family and community alike.  As his sister pointed out today when she and her family set out to feed the homeless, Luke never met a stranger - just a friend he didn't know the name of yet.  Luke's goal was to be a film-maker just like his big brother.  You can actually see some of the videos he and his family did on YouTube.

Luke epitomized what Br. Mark talks about in today's video - the awareness of the love of God in others, and intentionally displaying the love of God to others.  To continue the garden analogy the Brothers of SSJE have been using, this is the food you're choosing to feed your plants, or your life, and the fruit you're choosing to produce.  What sort of things do you want to surround yourself with?  And what kind of things will you be giving back?