For the last few years, to prepare my mind for the Easter season, I’ve given up something during the 40 days of Lent. I don’t need to; it’s not a tradition of my church. But that little sacrifice every day reminds me of the huge sacrifice our Savior and God went through for us. This year I couldn’t think of what to give up so I prayed about it. Almost immediately, this thought came, give up your coffee creamer. What! My favorite sweet, chemical-laced, flavored coffee creamer! But I need something to buffer the coffee for my stomach’s sake! Plain milk can do that quite well was my answer. What a small sacrifice to be concerned about. God must smile at me sometimes. I hope so anyway, and I did ask!

From the beginning of time, romantic stories of love have inspired books, plays, poems and even wars. Some say a mother’s self-sacrificing love for her child is as close to godly love as you can get. And, we all can agree God’s love is the greatest love. Sacrificial love for others led our Savior to die for everyone who has ever lived or will live, good, bad or indifferent. Jesus’ command is to love God and to love our neighbor. Jesus said when you take care of others, no matter who they are, you show love to him. When we share the love of God with our neighbor, we participate in the great circle of love God has ordained. God’s love to us to neighbor to Christ through the Holy Spirit back to God—the greatest love.

My son Steve lost a good friend this last week who he’s known from college. Shawn was only 50 years old and left a wife and three daughters. I knew him too, a nicer person you wouldn’t meet, one of the good guys. It reminded me of my son David’s early death and my father’s sudden death at age 49 from a heart complication, and the shock and trauma such unexpected death causes. As I relive those days and weeks of terrible grief, my heart goes out to their family. Because I know something of what they’re experiencing, I hurt deeply for them. Why were my son, dad and Shawn allowed to die so young? I don’t know, but I do know our Father redeems whatever we undergo in our lives. Such losses make us different people and more like Christ as we share with him in the suffering of others.

Someone cut me off in traffic and caused me to hit my brakes. I’m not happy! I’m judgmental and angry as well. Maybe you would call that righteous anger as their thoughtless driving could have caused a collision and personal injury and even death. But if that’s how I often respond to others, being judgmental and angry can become bad habits. I need to change, but hasn’t change in my life already happened at the cross? Didn’t our Savior make that change for me in his death and resurrection? Maybe becoming more mature in Christ might be a better way to express what he is doing in our lives as Christians. We start as a babe in Christ and then grow in spiritual maturity. But I’m nitpicking! Whatever word used, as long as we understand Who made the change in us, that’s what really matters!

“You looking for the best burger in town?” The restaurant my daughter and I  wanted to go to in St. Jo was closed. We look for places with outdoor eating areas. That’s when we heard from the good old boy in cowboy hat and boots sitting in his truck across the street. When we turned around, he told us the days the Windmill restaurant was open. He seemed to be the owner or manager of the establishment. After promising to come back to his restaurant next time, my daughter asked, “Where do you go for the second best burger in town?” With a little smile, he pointed over his shoulder to the restaurant behind him. So that’s where we went. If St. Jo’s Lazy Heart Grill’s burger is the second-best burger in town, we can’t wait to try his. I love living in Texas!

Are you always open to God’s will in your life? I hope I am. I don’t want to be like Jonah, who finally obeyed but grudgingly. I don’t even want to be like Peter who said, “Because you say so, I will” (Luke 5:1-11). Peter had been fishing all night with Andrew, James and John, with no catch. He was exhausted and frustrated. Now, here was Jesus, telling him to take the nets they had just washed and go back out and drop them in again. Maybe he thought, what does a carpenter know about fishing anyway. But he is a rabbi, so to show respect and teach him a little about the fish business, I’ll do it. The Bible doesn’t say what Peter thought, but he did obey, reluctantly. It changed his life forever. Help us to obey you, Lord. I hope gladly, but even if grudgingly or reluctantly, help us to be trusting and open to your will in our lives.

As my daughter drove up, she said a vulture was eating a dead squirrel by my mailbox. It’s not every day I see a vulture devouring road kill in my neighborhood, but there it was down at the edge of my yard by the road. When a car drove by, the big black bird would move away a few yards, but then return to its meal. It’s kind of gross to watch but it’s the balance in nature God designed. Vultures, among other scavengers, were designed to clear away the dead. They don’t have a choice in the matter. That’s what they do and they’re content with how God made them. As humans we have purpose too. We are God-designed for love, for him to love and for us to love him and our neighbor. But unlike the vultures, we have a choice.

One morning this quote from Elbert Hubbard was on my daily horse calendar, “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” Yes, it’s familiar. I’ve heard it before, and it sounds good. But does anyone really have a friend like that? A friend who knows all about you, all your deep dark secrets, all those sinful thoughts you’ve had and sinful deeds you’ve done? I’ve never had a friend like that. I don’t think even the most outgoing, loquacious extrovert tells his or her friends everything. The only one I know who really wants to hear about my deepest darkest sins is God. He knows about them anyway, of course, but he is happy when we recognize our faults and come to him to confess and repent. Until we do, our forgiving, merciful God loves us anyway and patiently waits. He is that kind of friend.

Living through this pandemic has given me more time for introspection, which can be good or bad. In my conversations with God, I whine about what I can’t do anymore. I’m old, I say, and I’m frustrated I can’t do what I used to do. And, on top of that, what I can do is limited by this virus. I feel I have no purpose in life. God says, I don’t care about what you can or can’t do for me. It doesn’t matter. You’re my love object. What? God says, You’re the object of my love. You were created to be loved by me. That’s your purpose. I try to wrap my mind around that. Even if I were totally bedridden and had to be spoon fed to survive I would still have purpose? Yes, God says, I don’t need anything from you. I love you! I created you for love.

Last Thanksgiving, my younger daughters were teasing their older sister after noticing her spice rack was organized alphabetically. It was all in fun as they admire her organizational skills and are quite organized themselves. As I smiled at their antics, I asked, “How did you learn to do that?” She replied, “I learned it from you.” Oh right, I guess my spice rack is organized that way, but that practice wasn’t high on my list of what to teach my children. It reminded me that you can teach your children about God and how to drive and how to budget their money, but they learn more from what you do than from what you tell them.