Mom's Diary

I am not a morbid person. I don't sit around thinking about dying. But it will happen. Someday. After losing my parents in the last couple of years, I have had so many questions that can never be answered, and we talked a lot! So I think about things that my kids and grand kids may wonder about when I am gone. I think my mom knew we would wonder about things so she left several years of diaries for us to read. I pick it up and read some entries once in a while. Today was one of those days, so I can tell you that on this date in 1966 she bought a new dress and only had to spend $2 because the Dallas church ladies had given her $4 as a going away gift.  On this date in 1970 I went to school with swollen tonsils and a fever. I was an over-achiever! I am better at keeping my germs to myself now. In 1976 I chose the florist for my wedding. In 1986 our oldest daughter was interviewed by a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader on a telethon raising money for children's hospitals. And in 1982, mom weighed... well, I'm going to keep that private.

History can be so fun!

Sunday I listened to Andy Stanley share that, what we know as the Old Testament, (The Law and Prophets) was made famous, not by the Jews who used it as their creed to live by, but by the non-Jewish sector digging into Jewish history for the sole purpose of discovering and understanding all there was to know about the resurrected Jesus, the Messiah that most of the Jews didn't even recognize.  Thousands of years of history carefully laid out to prepare the way for the Savior of the world to make the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. All that history paints a picture of a Creator who made us in His image to love and be loved. And how critical it was for His people to live in that love, allowing no distractions, nothing that would pull them away from the One who made them and knew them and designed them for intimacy with Him.

His message caused me to reflect on my history and how it is laying a foundation for the generations that will come after me. I really want all of it to reflect back to my Messiah. When people look at my history and my parent's history and their parents before them, I want it to all boil down to ... "A foundation was laid to help her believe in the resurrected Savior who walked with her and stretched her and grew her and she trusted Him day by day to help her love with His amazing love."

Today you are writing your history and that of your kids and grand kids. How will your diary read to them? This is the perfect time to work on making your history point to a life lived for God. We will face new challenges weekly that will bring us to a new level of trusting our God and leaning into Him. We will be stretched and we will need to exercise patience and self-control. We will need to love and offer grace like never before. This pandemic creates a challenge beyond our typical day to day life and those are the places where the very best stories are written.

Please don't allow these days and weeks to create a history of fear and anger, impatience and frustration. Rather, find the places where God is at work. Where He is sustaining you. Where He is providing for you. Where He is reaching out His hand to you in the middle of a storm. Be a reflection of His goodness and grace as your history is written for the generations to come. Let it all point to a life led and blessed by the Messiah.

May your life be a story of God's amazing grace. Leave a journal or diary behind for the generations to come of how God sustained you in the COVID-19 Pandemic....but, leave out the part where you tell people your weight.