January 10, 2009 Second Chance to Love

Second Chance to Love

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. Albert Einstein

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill

What a beautiful day!!

I am remembering that my life isn't about me. It is about giving it away. To give and to receive. Not for gain or selfish desires. Starting with my magnificent family.

Being totally transparent is a place where I am no longer afraid to go. And I am sharing my life rather than turning my personal experience or excerpts from psychological study or family counseling into a teaching of what can only come through individual searching. If I had only had the deeper understanding of this in my young life as a wife and mother. What I am saying is not just the words on this email, what I am typing is not just the letters to form a thought. I am living from the inside-out. There is no other way.

I shared yesterday what Paul said, 'husbands love your wives'. This is for each one of us not just husbands. This is purposeful, absolutely necessary, no room for short cuts, loving, from and given to each person whom God has blessed us with in our lives starting within our own family.

I have lived and experienced and observed, now grieving, as I see the very thing I did not do - to love extravagantly those who have been entrusted to my care. There was never any room for any damaging, impatient, overlooking with these precious human lives, my gifts from God. How can I ever thank Him for giving me a second chance while I am still living?!

I am not explaining the depth of what I am feeling about this very well and I'm not sure how much work it will take for me to ever be able to explain what is so deep. All I know...it is in the very center of the heart.