Abandoning our Nets

Mark's Gospel is the shortest and most direct of the four.  Today's selection from the first chapter (no time wasted with prologues or introductions), he gets right to the heart of the matter:  "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mk 1: 15) The kingdom of God is Jesus himself:  the union of God and us...the goal of our entire lives.  "Repent" means change your heart, turn to God. Jesus then calls the first four, fishermen, who leave behind their nets, boats and families to follow him.  A huge step into the unknown, yet they took it, a true leap of faith, as when a tightrope walker abandons his or her safety nets to walk across the wire, relying on the hours and perhaps years of practice to help them across.
Those fishermen left all, but as we read later, it took TIME for them to fully grasp what their call was. Peter begged Jesus to leave him for he was sinful, and indeed denied him three times.  Jesus did not abandon him, which helped Peter regain his fidelity to Jesus.  In our quest to become disciples, what do we need to abandon?  What "safety nets" can we, do we need to cast aside?   How patient are we with ourselves when it seems like progress is slow or when we are tempted to abandon our mission because some unforeseen obstacle has crossed our path?  When we come to know and love Jesus more and support each other, we can do as much as these first four.  The key is to abandon what prevents us from giving hearts totally to Jesus.
Bro. Rene