My heart is heavy this morning for several reasons.
This morning my daughter started high school, on next Monday my youngest daughter will start fourth grade and at the end of August my son will be a freshman in college… time flies, time waits for nobody, time is a thief.
Within the last week we learned that one of the mothers from my 15-year old’s school was battling cancer and sent home on hospice. Then we learned last night she lost her battle. She left behind four children and a husband and I am sure countless others that will miss her dearly. I live in a fairly small community where most people grew up with each other so this will be felt by many in our small-town city. While I did not know this woman personally (I am a transplant) I feel her loss and my heart hurts for her family.
The culture we live in has become so fast pace, we rush to here and there. We become consumed with our own life and our own struggles that we lose sight of those around us and then one-day poof it’s gone. Life is so short and we only get one shot at it; so, love well and often. Be mindful of how you love because your actions impact those around you. At the end of the day the question we should ask ourselves is did I love people enough? How you love people is how they will remember you. Food for thought for my own heart… am I loving enough? It is something God has brought to my attention before because I sometimes get too focused on what I am getting instead of what I am giving.
The Apostle Paul (and I have grown to love the Apostle Paul greatly this last decade of my life, he is a misunderstood fella) gave us a great description of love regardless of your position on faith.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never ends… (NET)
When I read scripture like that I have to re-evaluate my perception of love because it often loses this definition. I don’t know what you are going through, what you have been through, or who is in your life but it is my deep hope and prayer that you are loved well, you are loved often (and that love is healthy and without abuses) AND that you reciprocate that love. Above all else know that you have a Savior that loves you beyond measure just as you are. Good Morning Ladies…