Growing Up Catholic in a Small Texas Town
The Big Surrender
A couple of Masses ago, our priest gave a moving homely on surrendering. That topic hit home because I can easily slip into the “control” mode, which is not always a fun place to be. We were handed a printout of a surrender novena on the way out of church that day. I like novenas. They are short, sweet prayers usually said daily over nine days, so I decided to try it. The concept of the novena is to relax and forget about your worries; just get out of God’s way and let Him do His thing. I needed this — big time. It was refreshing to surrender my control over my bank balance, book sales, writing schedule, race training, shoe obsession, barking dog in the neighborhood, etc. I was doing quite well with this until a few weeks ago.
When I travel, I usually mail home a couple of boxes so my luggage is not so heavy, especially when I’m returning from Texas because my sisters and I love to shop. My last trip home from Houston was not an easy one. First, I was flying on Alaska Airlines; need I say more. My flight was canceled three times during that week, so it was back and forth from my sister Karen’s house to the airport. Before I called her the third time to pick me up, I went up to the Alaska ticket counter with the request that they put me up in a hotel for the night. My request was denied because the cancellation was…
