During my first Eagle Eye experience, WAAAY back when I was 16, I do believe that I had to have been one of the most annoying teens there. Fr. Nathan says that he still remembers when I showed up with my dad, I was wearing a camouflage t-shirt. I'll wear it once in a while still, just so he'll have the pleasure of exclaiming "That's the shirt!" Father's impressions of little Miss Mary Ann were at first that I might be a punk... his other thought was "What have I started???" His reason being that he had intended this camp to be a one-time adventure and all of a sudden a random girl from Iowa shows up. Aside from me, all the people at the camp kind of knew each other and were friends with the brothers... I was the awkward duck from Iowa who couldn't even figure out how she'd gotten there in the first place. To add to the duck imagery, I also proclaimed myself to be a duck the entire week, since 2 whole days of hiking produced a definite waddle in my stride from sore muscles. (Ha! Oh 16-year-old Mar...)
Somewhere between causing Fr. Nathan to have a slight heart attack at my arrival and now, 6 years later, both Eagle Eye and I have matured. Eagle Eye is now in 5 or 6 different states in the US, and I believe several other countries. It has developed into a year-long institute that forms young people into the men and women God made them to be. Little Miss Mary Ann still has her annoying moments, but Eagle Eye has opened the door to a deepening of faith and understanding that I never thought would be possible.
Through Eagle Eye I have discovered more profoundly what it means to be a friend. According to Aristotle, you're never truly friends with a person until the two of you have consumed a bag of salt together... Exactly how many meals does that include??? Aside from a ridiculous amount of salt-intake, I have discovered that true friendship is supposed to enable the other to more fully be themselves. By accepting the other for who they are and encouraging them down the path of life, you also discover who it is that you were created to be.
... And who am I exactly? GOOD QUESTION! Sure, I learn a little more each year about chains, sacrifice, and what it means to pick up the Cross Christ intended for me to bear and walk with him... but what do I really know about who He created me to be? Sure, I know that I love my family a latte, that I love to serve others, that I'm organized and professional, and that I enjoy some of the most profound and endearing friendships known to civilization... but what does that say about Mary Ann Pometto? Most importantly, what does that say about what it is God is calling Mary Ann Pometto to do with her life?
Questions, are good things, and Eagle Eye opens the doors to many questions. I'm still sort of a wayward traveler at times. I do know that my path would be a whole lot less defined if I hadn't attended that first Eagle Eye when I was 16... and all of the subsequent Eagle Eyes.
This is why my most recent counseling experience at the Teen Eagle Eye has made me that much more excited for the Eagle Eye Institute. I don't know what I will discover there, but there is something to be said for walking forward in faith. To give Christ this year of my life so that he can draw me into the wilderness and show me what it means to walk down the path he's chosen for me, and to endeavor to say YES to my Cross every day: what gift and challenge at the same time.
One thing I do know for sure, is that me and St. Paul are going to become a whole lot better acquainted so he can teach me more about being a Slave of Christ... CHAINS.... SACRIFICE.... CROSS and all.
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