Books and Culture With Laura

Uncomfortable Kisses From Katie

by Laura Scanlon

I’ve been reading Kisses for Katie. It’s an amazing memoir of a young woman named Katie Davis who, at eighteen years old, left a life of privilege in the United States to live in Uganda. Now in her early twenties, she calls Uganda her home, has founded a ministry there, and is in the process of adopting thirteen little girls. Thirteen!

Her story is amazing all right. But Katie Davis and I could never hang out.

She makes a commitment to be “Mommy” to these little girls. She does this without knowing how she will support them, while still promising her parents to come back to the United States, while still in a relationship with her boyfriend back in the States.

Katie writes about letting Jesus in and having her heart explode.
Just reading her story makes my head explode.

She makes me uncomfortable.

John Paul II once told a group of young people, “You were not made for comfort.”

Oh, but Your Holiness, you don’t know me personally. I am made for comfort! Really I am.

My current state in life gives me an out. I certainly can’t leave my own little girls and pack up and head to Uganda. Whether or not I’ve been entirely brave up until now, my calling for the time being is clear enough.

But it’s easy for me to get comfortable and justify it. I “need” to sleep in frequently so I’m not grumpy with my family. I “need” a comfortable house in which to care for them. I “need” coffee and chocolate and dinners out. I “need” a nice new purse. I need a nice life, dang it!

I’m not entirely ashamed of my comforts. Especially not the sleep.

But thanks to Katie Davis, now I’m just a bit uncomfortable.

Laura is a Catholic Christian, a mother, a part-time lawyer, and a recovering overthinker. She writes monthly here at Atelier on books and culture, and blogs regularly at This Felicitous Life.