Eternal Perspective

Each morning this year, I'm taking a little extra time in my morning prayers and scripture reading to become acquainted with some Christians from the past. I found an old (1959) edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints while living in Lompoc, California. At a Thrift Store--that was having a sale! Five books for $1. I got these because I had some book shelves that needed filling, and these looked good. This was in my tearoom days, and I was way to busy to read these old-fashioned books. There is a time for everything. Now, I have time. And I have more of an awareness of how quickly time passes. How do I fill my time. I listen to the concerns of others and I think about my own concerns, and sometimes I feel we overlook the big picture, maybe the most important part. This morning I ran across this advice from St. Augustine:

"Not only think of the road through which thou art travelling, but take care never to lose sight of the blessed country in which thou art shortly to arrive. Thou meetest here with passing sufferings, but will soon enjoy everlasting rest. In order to labour with constancy and cheerfulness, consider the reward."

I might say something like, don't sweat the small stuff, the best is yet to come. But I like the way St. Augustine said it, back in the A.D. 400's. He had a way with words.

Never forgotten

Just two years ago, many of our large extended family gathered in Oklahoma to savour the final days of my mother Phyllis with us. Sometimes I like to reflect back to another time to gain perspective on the present. Our whole world revolved around the crisis of mom's brain tumour in 2010. Each of us had to grapple with how we would deal with the loss of our mother, sister, aunt, wife, grandmother. She left a big emptiness in our lives when she left this earth. But, thanks be to God, He is big enough to fill any gap, and we can carry on until our time comes to join Him and our loved ones in heaven. I thank God for the heritage of faith that my family has nurtured in us. My aunt Lois has left us now too. What comfort we shared with our aunt and uncles who remain and share that faith, our most precious gift, as we gathered in Arkansas this time to bid farewell to Aunt Lois.