Baby Boy

Baby Boy

Once there was a son who went his own way at 18.Leaving home he rambled from town to town for years.Never finding what he
was searching for.Trouble with the law and many a failed marriages was left in his wake.His brothers and sisters lost touch with
him.He would call from time to time to let them know about his latest adventure or misadventure.They wouldn't hear from him for months on end.
The other kids either lived close by or stayed in close contact with their mother.This young buck didn't have time.The next fortune
or the next folly lay over the following hill.He called his parents to ask for money when he got into a jam.He only contacted them when he wanted
something, and spoke briefly.The money was always wired to his then current location.
His father had given up all hope over him,but momma said,"Baby boy,will find his way home someday."
Home was the last thing on his mind.
When she spoke of her children to others, she mentioned the one that had a good career,another who had a nice wife,the other who was doing many good
things,but when she spoke of the youngest she simply pointed to him in the family portrait and said,"This one is my baby."
Time passed and one winter night he called his sister from Louisiana to tell her about his new job on an oil platform.He had just blown into town there and was ready
to unwind.
"What's happening, sis?"
"Mom's been sick.The doctors said she might not make it through the night.She's been asking for you."
His response is dead silence.He drops the phone, and immediately revs up his engine.Without hesitiation he's off and running before he has time to think.
But in that period of time between darkness and dusk, he has time to think.And that is what he does.Of all he had been given and never gave back.The late nights
his mother had spent worrying over him, he now understood as the walls came closing in on him.
He approached the hospital just as the sun's rays were coming up.The light hurt his eyes.Frantically, he jumped out even before his car had come to a
complete stop.Rushing in he asked the charge nurse where to find her.She directed him by pointing up the hall.But he knew where she was before she
even lifted her hand.He could hear the sobs.His family was already grieving by the time he got to her side.At that moment,a tough grown man
who had learned to face life head on,cried just like a baby for his mother.
Will you be too late when you get the call to come home?

Holy Spirit,
You are like a mother's prayers calling us home.We become bogged down with what we want in this life.While we forget You.Only calling upon You
when we need something.Speaking to You briefly,only to forget You when we get it.As soon as we get out of trouble, we brag to others about how much fun
we are having.All the while your heart is breaking from worrying over us.Will we be too late one day when Your gone? Forgive me for taking You for granite.
Forgive me for all the grief I have given You.Just as a mother holds her baby boy when his heart is breaking,hold me now as mine breaks over what I have done.
Bring the tears I once knew as a child, when I longed for my mother's embrace.
Amen.
By
Lance Gargus