God Isn't Finished With Him Yet

When my husband was in graduate school we attended a meeting where a distinguished man spoke. He had been successful professionally, was happily married to a lovely woman, and was the father of a very large family. He spoke eloquently of his life and at one point, he posted a picture of himself as a teenager in his presentation. A wild-looking young man with long, fringed hair flashed on the screen. This picture looked nothing like the clean-cut, well-dressed man before us. The man related that in high school he had gone through a rebellious phase and this haircut reflected that time and attitude. Once, a woman had made a comment to his mother about her son's outlandish haircut and ways. His mother, irked by the comment, retorted "Maybe, God isn't finished with him yet!"

I loved that phrase. This mother saw potential in her son and had hope for his future. She knew that with God, change is always possible. Another mother who I love is St. Augustine's mother, Monica, who waited patiently for the conversion of her son to God. This "son of her many tears" became a mighty warrior for Christ and said of his mother that she "brought me to birth, both in her flesh, so that I was born into this temporal light, and in her heart, that I might be born into eternal light" (Conf. 8, 17). Because of Christ, we need never give up on ourselves or our children. God isn't finished with any of us yet. He is our loving father and His work with us is infinite and eternal. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Cor 5:17)

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