I guess I’m getting old enough to wonder what people will say about me when I’m gone. Have you ever thought about how you will be remembered? One of the best things anyone could say about my life would be something I would actually want to say at my wife’s memorial (should I out-live her). I would want people to say or think: “He (or in my wife’s case – She) taught me about love! I thought I knew what love was, but now I have experienced it – because God has loved me though him (or her).”
My dear wife has modeled service, respect, self-sacrifice, and a kind of genuine goodwill that is apparent in the joy she feels over my success and my happiness.
Sometimes I hear my wife’s infectious laughter and know that someone (a friend, student, or family member) has shared some good news with her. “Laugh with those who laugh and weep with those who weep,” the Scripture says. When you love someone, you care about what is important to that person, and you naturally (or maybe supernaturally) empathize with what he or she feels – because in many ways your hearts are bound together by invisible cords of love.
When we rejoice with the people we love – when our hearts jump with joy over their enjoyment of life… that must be what our Heavenly Father feels when He gives us good gifts. When we are truly thankful for all that God does for us, I think He must beam from ear to ear because He made us to be sons and daughters who appreciate His goodness.
As a dad, I can imagine how much it pleases God when His children appreciate that He loves them deeply. Jesus, being one with His Father, communicated the Father’s heart in His life, death, and resurrection. He lived and died for His friends. Then He arose and ascended to prepare a new home for us in Heaven. No one ever out-loved Jesus.
When my life on Earth is over, I hope those whose lives I’ve touched will say that they saw the love of Jesus in my heart – a love that never dies.
Good stuff Bill!