Gospel Reading Luke 19:41-44 Psalm 50:1-2, 5-6, 14-15
"Offer to God praise as your sacrifice..."Psalm 50:14
Today I wanted to share with you a picture of my family in the 40's. Somehow they are smiling and happy after all of the hard times they had endured when this picture was taken. As I was saying my prayers this morning and meditating on the Psalm reading of today, I am so grateful I can relate to my loved ones who have gone before me. I am thankful this morning that the easy road was not handed to me the past ten years. Because of the hard times my husband and I have had from starting a business from scratch, I can relate more to my Great Grandad and Granny (in the picture) who settled on the plains in 1904 on a dime and a dream. I can relate more to their sacrifices they made yearning for a legacy for their future family. I can appreciate even more the life I was given growing up all because of their hard work. As a mother, I think of my great grandmother Hattie, who brought her infant, Clementine, on a wagon to settle in the middle of nowhere. I think of her working hard all day while being a mother at the same time. The exhaustion she must have felt at the end of the day had to have been grueling. She made her children's clothes from flour sacks. I look at this picture and only hope I can leave the legacy that they have. They are all now in Heaven with our Father and no, they didn't have a lot of money, or a beautiful home with fine things. Granny didn't have a nanny to help out with her children. She made huge sacrifices to give them a life of love, sacrifice and faith.
In a world where we are constantly chasing the next big pay check, bonus, home, car, vacation, we need to stop and be thankful for the life God has given us. No, maybe your expectations at this point in your life hasn't come full circle and maybe you have been dealt the hand of hard times and heartache, but be grateful for what God has done in your life and offer up the sacrifices in thanksgiving for everything he has given you. For if you have been dealt hard times, your faith is growing stronger and the legacy you will leave for your children to ponder on and take comfort in is growing ever more. Be thankful today for your children and your husband even if you don't have much money in the bank. For money will waste away but your family will not.....they will live on forever.
So today, stop wishing your life away for bigger plans. Stop looking at everything your friends and neighbors have but you don't have. Be thankful and offer up your hard times as a prayer of thanksgiving. When I look at old pictures of my family, everything seems clear.....that nothing in life matters other than loving each other and living your faith. Everything else will turn to dust, but the legacy you leave behind to your children and grandchildren will live forever. So what is it going to be today? Focusing on the things you don't have or embracing what you do have and the card of life that has been dealt to you?
Blessings to you this Thursday!
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