"Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13 (New Living Translation)
I know that 1 Corinthians 13 is a familiar and favorite passage for lots of people. I have always read this passage and applied it to my relationship with Mike. But today, the last verse really caught my attention. Three things will last forever. Faith, hope, and love.
It seems like within the past few months, several tragedies have unfolded around me. Life interrupted. Thankfully, my little family is healthy and well. But there are several people that I am aware of that are really hurting right now. Within the past few months, a 14 year old boy at my school passed away after complications of a very routine surgery. A mother to two and administrator at a middle school in town passed away from an ear infection that spread to her brain. This weekend, a friend from grad school passed away in an automobile accident, leaving behind two young girls. She was 30 weeks pregnant with a son, who was delivered via emergency c-section. She never got to hold him or hear his cry. My heart aches for her family. Several of "my kids" at school have lost a parent within the last year. More are hurting as a result of divorce or illness. I know that the world is filled with sorrow and sadness. Yet it seems to have snuck up on me. I keep thinking about how temporary and fragile life truly is. And then I start to think about the gift of each day.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about my "legacy." What will I leave behind when I am gone? Would my children even remember me if I were to die today? Would my good outweigh my not-so-good? Would my life truly matter for anything?
There are days that I get so twisted up in the temporal yuckiness of life- things like ambition, pride, vanity and plain old fashioned selfishness crowd out the joy that God intended for me to experience each day. I want more than that. I want to live my life intentionally focusing on the three things that last forever- faith, hope, and love. I want to live with eternal perspective. I want to make the most of each moment. I want my children to see Christ in me. I want to live long enough to be a grandmother. But even if God has other plans, I want today to count. Faith, hope, and love. These three things will last forever.
1 comment:
This post really spoke to me - I wonder about my legacy often, what will people remember? I have tried to keep God first, be there for my family and do the best job I can at whatever comes my way. With that being said, I feel that I have been blessed more than I have been a blessing.
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