A friend of mine found this piece in the Focus on the Family magazine and forwarded it to me. It speaks to where I am at right now. How about you???
“What Remains”Let these thoughts carry you through the weekend.
The Love Chapter for Parents by Cindy Dagnan
If I spend my days building skyscrapers with blocks, assembling cool stuff out of legos, and creating relationships with other moms at Starbucks, but I have not love, I am only the siren of the kids’ ride-on firetruck, annoyingly stuck on hold.
If I have the gift of knowing which child attempted to flush the Hot Wheels down the toilet and which one pushed her sister, and if I have faith that somehow we’ll survive life’s emergencies, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I save all my box tops for school and give outgrown clothing to the local shelter, and if I surrender my body to stretch marks and under eye circles, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient when someone isn’t ready to use the big-girl potty. It is kind when my husband has a hard day. It doesn’t envy my neighbor who drives the new sport utility vehicle I can’t afford.
It isn’t rude, snapping at my spouse or my children when things don’t go my way. It is not easily angered at real or perceived injustices.
It always protects the smallest, sweetest family confidences; always trusts God to provide my children’s needs; always hopes in the freshness of tomorrow and the bright future of family; always perserveres amid hardship and doubt.
Where there are sleepless nights, they shall end. Where there are diapers, little league, and dioramas built from shoeboxes, they will cease. Where there is knowledge of baby care trends, discipline strategies, and boy-girl problems, it will pass away.
Now these three remain: faith, lived out in my daily circumstances and instilled in my children; hope, of one day rejoicing with my family in heaven; and love, which covers over a multitude of less- than-perfect moments.
But the greatest of these is love. It is what remains… long after I am gone.
3 comments:
BEAUTIFUL post, Karen, which happens to speak volumes to me right now!!
THANK YOU!!!
Patricia/NYC
I am with you on that one! Sometimes the joy and love get washed away by the routine and mundane.
Hey Karen - I posted this in September because I loved it SO much. Then I did a devotion on it at our Moms group. I included the devotion in the comments section of my post:
What Remains - comments
The moms enjoyed it and I really felt like God lead me to create and lead that devotion very specifically.
It was so awesome to see it posted here again. It's a great piece, and more moms need to see it!
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