A Life Worth Living

O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and gray-headed,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.
Psalm 71:17-18

Last night I was again looking at old slides, this time pictures taken in the six years before I was born. My parents were young, in their mid-twenties. They had just purchased their first house, one they would own for at least the next fifty years, a place where all of their children would grow up. My older brothers were just babies and then little boys. They went camping with Mom and Dad, just like my sisters and I did later. Mom and Dad took pictures of their friends and their friends children, my aunts and uncles and cousins, and other relatives too. Some pictures made me laugh or smile, some made me a little bit sad, and some amazed me by how different things look now. Our house grew from a little box with hardly any trees or bushes and a dirt driveway to a beautiful home with trees, bushes, flowers, and a paved driveway. Dad added a back porch, which later turned into our dining room, built a garage, an upstairs attic bedroom, and plenty of woodsheds to store the wood for our "new" old woodstove. Sometimes it's hard to believe its the same house! The neighborhood is changed too, of course. Children grew up, people moved away, and new neighbors arrived. It's all kind of bittersweet for me now. I look back and remember good times and happy days that are long past, part of what makes my mom and dad who they are today. There were sad and heartbreaking times too, of course, but they don't show up so much in the photographs, my grandfather's passing, an illness that almost took my father's life, my uncle's fight with cancer, and my brother's struggle with severe autism. Through it all Mom and Dad held on to Jesus, who was the only one who could carry them though. Looking at the pictures made me realize again, how brief life is and how much we should treasure all of the blessings God pours into our lives and how greatful we can be that there is more to living than what we see here on this earth. Thank God for the love of Jesus and His sacrifice for us! We can look forward to a better life in eternity with Him.