Garrett’s Confirmation

Dear Garrett

Your mom asked me to write a letter for your confirmation retreat. Her hopes were that I might inspire a seventeen year old. I hate to disappoint her but I don’t even know what a “confirmation retreat” is and furthermore I can’t believe you are seventeen.

Well! I do remember something of my confirmation. A seventh grader, perhaps I was thirteen or fourteen, and there was nothing anyone could say to inspire me…not even when I was seventeen. I had heard it all…from my parents and from the nuns in catholic school. Oh! Don’t get me wrong I went along with the program…I knew better than to muddy the water. But did I really understand. No! Definitely not! It would be many years later before I really GOT IT.

I wish I had the words that would inspire. The truth is…it probably wouldn’t do any good. It would just be wasted words no matter how wise the words were. I have concluded based on my own experience that the words just go in one ear and out the other unless some relationship can be made through a past experience. Basically good judgment is formed or gained from experiences…most of which are the result of bad judgment. Yes! If there were only a magic pill that could be taken as opposed to the trial and error method. It took me many years of trial and error, many years of testing God’s rules only to prove that He was right and I was wrong. I finally concluded that you don’t need to break every rule to prove its validity.

My point is…life is much better with Jesus as a close personal friend as opposed to him being just some character in the bible. Really knowing Jesus with your heart not just your head is THE difference. Knowing who Jesus is and KNOWING Jesus are two very different things. The difference is…knowing a God who is a loving father not just a God who threatens us with arbitrary commandments. While I agree that NOT following Gods rules will result in problems, I prefer to look at the situation through his eyes, the eyes of a loving father. A wise father gives us rules so we won’t hurt ourselves. To a kid…“Don’t play in the street” makes no sense whatsoever…but after nearly getting run over it makes perfect sense.

I believe all that grace I received from the sacraments including Confirmation laid dormant until I understood what unconditional love was all about.

So my wish, my prayer is that you take better advantage of these gifts and take advantage of them sooner than I did. I wish you wisdom and foresight. Remember WISDOM trumps all other cards in the game of life except LOVE. May God bless you and keep you safe all the days of you life.

Uncle Gene
1/26/2009