love

Attending five funerals in 6 months has caused me to think deeply about what really matters.  It's made me hug my kids longer, say "I love you" more, ignore the petty stuff, and appreciate the small things that happen all day long.  Things like the sun shining on my flowers early in the morning, kind emails from people who love me, holding my sweetie's hand as we say good night, long talks with friends, a home that makes me smile, and people in it who mean everything to me.  People are so important.  My friends and family are precious and they are the only thing that really matters.  I have been reminded lately about how truly vital it is to make sure that the ones I love, know that I love them.  That means that I have to re-train myself to say "yes"  instead of "no"; to stop cleaning so I can hug; to give in to what's fun rather than the work that needs to be done; I'm working each day on my priorities. To love better. To love mostly. No clanging cymbals here, just real love.  I want it to be said of me... "She loved".   

1 Corinthians 13

 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.  If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 

 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud  or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  

 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!  Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.  Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.  

 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—

and the greatest of these is love.

 

Summer Days

I love summer!!!

The days are an unwritten story,

and

the only clock is

our hungry tummies

and our sleepy eyes.

Today we:

Slept in late

Put our swimming suits on right after our jammies came off

Slipped and Slided

Ate an all-orange lunch

Played "salon"

Went night-swimming, our favorite swimming time

Read

Watched a movie

Made sun-tea

Played in the garden

Had a sleepover in Maddie's room

It was a perfect summer day.

Faith

This last week has been a challenging one.  Blogging has taken a back seat to many other things.  One of those being, the death of a friend.  He died from bacterial meningitis. There are no words to say how much we grieve for Nick's family.( http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100622012 ) His wife and his unborn son have become loved ones we now pray for at dinner and before we sleep.  We have cried and prayed, visited and hugged, sighed and shaken our heads in bewilderment.  Silence has been the only answer to the burning question of "Why"? Patrick asked me how we explain God's decision to take Nick away to heaven to our children.  My response - "How do we explain it to ourselves?"  My choices are to walk in fear or walk in faith.  When it's light outside, my faith is strong and the fear stays away.  I try to go to sleep before the fear starts to take over. 

Life can change in an instant.  We've all had it happen.  A phone call, an impulse decision, a wrong turn.  Years ago, when drastic change was happening all around me, I had to force myself to read the Bible before I went to sleep to conquer the fearful thoughts.  I find myself running there these past days. My Bible open and near, a source of  comfort and peace.

We've had other stresses, not comparable to my friend Heather's loss, but places where our family has been stretched and poked.  These pokes are annoying, the stretching  has caused pain.  However,  I believe the pain will bring us to new levels of intimacy as a family, and will give us a place of rememberance that we "got through" it.  A touchstone of victory; a place where we had to rely on each other and our faith in God in order to succeed.  I have seen courage and wisdom in our older daughters, compassion and caring from our youngest ones.   They are all so innocent and demonstrate strength in tough situations that are put before them. 

Throughout these days of sadness and trials I have reminded the kids, Patrick and myself of the Lord's amazing love for us. He is faithful and strong, and He will never leave us.   For that, even though we don't have the answers we want, we are so thankful.