This last week the handyman
for my widowed 93-year-old mother-in-law worked on refinishing her back deck.
On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, he showed up for work with a bouquet
of flowers. For a moment after I learned of his kindness I felt a twinge of guilt
because it never crossed my mind to remember her on Valentine’s Day. However, I
soon realized that flowers from a family member would soon be forgotten…flowers
from a handyman is a forever memory. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is
fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give
her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city
gate” (Proverbs 31:30-31 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Mother’s Day is frightful to me. LaVelle, Dad’s second wife, is my mother, too. I honor her with a card, as I do my Mom. And I can’t forget my mother-in-law, because I admire her greatly. And even though she’s not my mom, Char gets a card from me for being my children’s mom. Then why not Erin for being my grand-children’s mom? And who’s going to buy cards for my grandchildren to give their mommy? Of course! No “buts” about it, it’s a joy.
-----Valentine’s Day could be that on steroids. Christ abolished the penalty of the Law, but not its meaning. He rolled that meaning up for us into one new commandment truth expects us to keep: “love one another as I have loved you.” We have a whole lot of one-anothers always milling around close by. Going into Valentine’s Day with the frame of mind like I take into Mother’s Day would be profoundly expensive, should we actually be keeping that new commandment.
-----But fortunately the twelfth chapters of Romans and I Corinthians both acknowledge the teamwork of care-taking. None of us can expend the full cost of caring for all those around us without going bankrupt. We are called to love everyone, but for us, only teamwork can provide the help life needs.
-----For Christ it was different. He was perfect. Only He had the provision the entire world needed. And He bankrupted Himself on the cross perfectly filling the world’s greatest need.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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