Today would have been my late mother in laws (Teresa)s’ birthday.
We talked, as we often do, about different memories we have with her, traits she has passed on and things we miss.
This year, a couple of huge things come to the surface.
As my sister in law was married last, Teresa missing this was huge. She never even got to meet her husband. The grief & loss over this is just so big it’s crazy.
But we were also thinking of our older children, now adults and how proud she would be to know them.
And how she would have been so excited that one of them is following in a similar education / career path to her.
And how strong & determined her granddaughter is, and how funny…well you get the idea!
In reality, she never really got to see any of the ‘success’ of her grandchildren – but she loved them anyway…
It’s so vivid to imagine what could (or should) have been, but this normally ends in sadness.
But remembering who she was & the times we shared, can bring warmth and smiles.
This reality reminds me of how God chooses (and *loves*) to forgive people. We often get trapped looking at our faults, condemning ourselves, rubbing our own noses in our failures. But God did everything possible for us to be *completely* forgiven…guilt free!
He *wants* to look at you as if you had never sinned, as if you had never done *anything* wrong. And if you receive His amazing gift, He makes this your reality… talk about an awesome gift!
This gift gave Teresa incredible peace in the last few weeks of her life, our prayer is that you don’t wait that long before you receive Jesus’ gift. His gift brings transformation and life – true life!
And in this life, we are reminded us to make every effort to spend quality time with those we love – our spouses, our children our parents our brothers & sisters – while we still can.
Even if it seems mundane – those times of connection, talking, reading, joking, laughing, walking, fishing, learning, helping others, working together – they all mean something!
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
Psalms 56:8 (NLT)