Twenty Years And Counting

It is a strange phenomenon that what seems like just yesterday can also seem like 'has always been',  but we mark time, and the calendar tells it was twenty years ago today that David and I were married.

How to describe a life that has brought two people together with both things in common and things not, that has, through love and commitment, become a family?  I describe it as miraculous and beautiful.

With all the problems and joys that fill up twenty years, I thank God for his grace and wisdom that we have relied upon to see us to this point.  I thank David for being the man he is:  kind, industrious, intelligent, patient.  What great qualities to bring to a marriage and on which to create a family.  Even through the tragedies, I realize we have a beautiful life....we have loved each other well.

Happy Birthday, Emma!

Emma is now fourteen and becoming quite a lovely young woman.  This Saturday she'll be off on a mission trip with the youth group at church, soon followed by a week of dance intensive and then begins her freshman year of high school (homeschooled, of course).  I realize the life changes will come more quickly now, but I'm not apprehensive.  She is fun loving, responsible and has her own sense of style and of herself.  I have so much for which to be thankful and optimistic.  She is truly a blessing. 

Happy birthday, dear Emma.

Happy Independence Day

We have been given such a gift, to be born or received into such a country as these United States.  Just a cursory view of past civilizations reveals how truly unique is our small place in history .  A republic with the stated purpose of freedom and justice for all is indeed rare.  Like so many gifts, it is often taken for granted or used as a means for obtaining power and control by those whose intentions are not those of pursuing freedom and justice.  While we are right to be vigilant in keeping those forces at bay, I also think it is important, especially now when our economy is failing, our freedoms are being legislated away and justice is too often denied, that we not place our faith in those things which will not last.  There is a great quote by C.S. Lewis:

A man may have to die for our country: but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself.

So, let us be good stewards in praying for and electing good and true politicians, let us lend our voice for those who are in need of justice, use our freedoms to do good, all the while placing our trust in the Author of life and liberty.  Let us live to God.