Mom, Nothing Else Matters

I just got off the phone with my oldest son.  He was phoning from Abu Dhabi, where it was 1:45 a.m. at the time of call. He was preparing to board a flight to London, where upon landing, he will immediately switch terminals, find his wife and two young children and the four of them take off for Bogota, Colombia. By the time they land, Jonathan will have been traveling for about 35 straight hours.

His wife, the lovely and long-suffering Adriana, (because of my son's peripatetic work life, they have lived in six different countries in their seven years of marriage), is ill.  London physicians have recommended immediate surgery, but are vague about the situation.  Adriana wanted to go home to Bogota, where her brother is a well-respected physician, and be treated by people he knew, and in a language and culture where she is far more comfortable.

And Jonathan said, "Nothing else matters."  He quickly coordinated travel plans for the four of them, spending huge sums of money on last minute ticket purchases.  Her brother went to work and lined up a series of specialists that she will see almost immediately upon their arrival in South America.

I asked about his job situation, as I knew he was in the middle of leading a large team on a complicated project there in Abu Dhabi.  His response, "Mom, nothing else matters."  He has simply told people what was happening, and received the same response from them:  "Nothing else matters. Take off."

Jonathan also mentioned that, completely out of the blue, two very, very nice job offers came his way a few days ago and within 45 minutes of each other.  We talked briefly about them, and then he said again, "Right now, nothing else matters."

No matter how complicated our lives are, no matter what lucrative employment opportunities arise, no matter what our colleagues need from us, when someone we love faces a life crisis, nothing else matters.

His voice caught as the tears threatened to flow.  I promised prayers, and offered all love and support.  There is little of a practical nature I can do for them.  Her parents will take good care of her and the children.  I'm useless in Bogota because of my limited Spanish, and the children are better off there than here because of the large extended family is there to offer care, fun, comfort and the more familiar Castilian language.  Plus, my next-in-line daughter-in-law in New York City has just learned she's going to have a C-section on June 9, and I'm the backup plan to help with their three-year-old should there be an early labor and emergency surgery becomes necessary.

Really, nothing else matters at this point.

Now, God does matter . . . and in the providence of God, we have been given the joy of family and close friends to love, to honor and to drop everything for when the crisis hits.  Because, in the long run, the relationship with the ones with whom we live and love in holy covenant really are the only things that matter.  We know this intuitively, and we also know from Christian theology.  God offers salvation to us, God's bride, because . . . nothing else matters. Really.  God held nothing back in the offer of grace.  All was given to us freely.  Because in the long run, nothing else matters.

I ask your prayers for my family.