If
It’s Monday Plus Five Days a/k/a Saturday,
It May Be Time for
a Name Change…..
L is for Love, Legacy and Less
If I speak
in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a
resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If
I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and
give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain
nothing.
Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It
does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it
keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy
in part, but when completeness comes, what is in
part disappears. When I
was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see only a reflection as in a
mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know
fully, even as I am fully known.
And
now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love
You know that my very favorite Bible passage
is I Corinthians 13. I have covered every important event in my
life with the words of this passage because I knew very early on that love was
the key ingredient to a Godly life, both in the giving and in the
receiving. Love unconditionally does not
mean to accept behaviors which are wrong.
But, it does mean that you look beyond the bad or wrong to the heart of
a person and see the one He made and in doing so, you will find the ability to
love.
You and I are both learning that even in
the worst of man is a seed of goodness…a goodness which comes from God when he
knit that person in the womb of his mother.
As Christians, we are called to love that part of a person in the name
of Jesus Christ even when it is not easy, just as we hope others will love that
part of us, even when it is not simple.
As Christ loved us when He lay down His
live on that wooden cross….
Our cousin posted a quote this week
which epitomizes what Real Love is all about…
“So many girls want a man to save them;
A man did save you 2000 years ago on a cross”
HE and the way HE loves us is the
foundation for all other love you will ever experience in your entire
life. Don’t take this lightly.
CHRIST’s
love was so great for MADISON that HE CHOSE to walk those
steps to the Cross….to die for every single sin you have ever committed since
birth.
Think About
That
If no one else in the whole wide world
loved you enough to die for you, HE DID.
And, not just because He loves you, but
because He wants you to receive that love and forgiveness so that you can live
into ETERNITY……
Forever….and forever…..
AMEN!
Which is why how you live your life is
important…
It is why you cannot know how to live
your life until you KNOW HIM.
And, as I have asked you 1,000 times….How
do you come to know Him?
You study Him….
In HIS Word, which is really just his
LOVE Letter to you, written down so that you can put Him in your hand and touch
the very real part of His love for you.
It is His LOVE Legacy to you…..and, the
more your Read His Word, the more you come to know Him, and the more you come
to know Him, the more your heart for Him, and for His children will grow and
not just grow, but thrive….
LEGACY is “something which is handed down from
generation to generation.”
We often think of legacies as “things”,
but in actuality, the real legacy of your life is your heart and your ability
to love others. It is how you chose to
live your life and for Whom you choose to live.
I want you to know now at twenty-two
what I did not fully appreciate until only recently in my life…
YOUR LEGACY MATTERS
What
you leave behind matters.
When I had cancer, I truly felt like I
saw my life flash before my very eyes…all of it…the good of it…the bad of
it.
Your walk with God matters….how well do
you know Him?
Your walk with your spouse….how well do
you love and honor him?
Your walk with your children….how well
do they see you knowing Him and loving him?
Your walk with your family….how well
have you invested and come to know them?
Your walk with your friends….how well
have you lived so that they know who is your first love?
Your walk in the presence of strangers….would
they see Christ living in you?
A major lesson I received from my cancer
is that while I need to remember a lot of things….including the above,
ultimately…ultimately…
At the end of the day…
I will stand there naked….just like I
came into this world….and it will be….
Just ME
And HIM
I have this image of Jesus meeting me at
the Gates…..he reaches out His hand to me and greets me with a smile….grabs my
hand and says,
“Lesa….come meet our Father”
I walk up to our God
And suddenly, it is just me and Him…
And, as God is my witness…..I
want to know Him
I want my life on earth as it is
reflected on that day to be one which is testimony to a life of coming to know
Him…..
In the way I study His Word
In the way I speak
In the way I live
In the legacy I leave my children
I
have learned not to strive for perfection, because there is no perfection in
humanity.
There is only perfection in our death
unto HIM.
I pray that today…you will stop in what
you are doing and think about your legacy…
It matters…
How
you live your life, every step you take, every breath you take….
They matter.
Live your life so that when you are at
the gates and Jesus takes your hand and walks you to our Father….
Your legacy is one of striving…
To live for HIM.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than
all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20
And finally, but not
the least of today’s sharing…
LESS…..
My name, as you know,
is LESA…..when I was growing up, many times, people would say to me,
“Hey Less-a….what are
you less of??”
I heard that more times
than I care to remember and not only by children, but also by adults who
thought they were being funny….
It used to really
bother me….
It made me want to
change it to LISA….so GRATEFUL my mother ignored those pleas!
The definition of “less”
is lower in consideration, I knew that.
I can even remember looking up in the dictionary (back in the days when
you had to go to an actual hard backed book) and looked up the word less….
Which means….
“lower in consideration….without…minus….smaller
in size…..lower in importance”
And, while I cannot say
I was devastated by the times I was asked this question….it did make me wonder
at times….especially in hard times….about
my worth.
In actuality, I was
named for my much beloved
Daddy (Chester LEE) and Mama (Shirley Sue) = Lesa Sheryl
A name which I love and
appreciate because it is a constant reminder of their legacy to me…
In name, in life, in
faith
And, as I grew into
appreciation of my name and confidence that I was NOT less of anything in the
eyes of God…
I actually grew a heart
which desired to be less..
In HIM.
Isn’t it funny how God
works?
When I was called “less
of what”, I wanted to be more?
But, when I grew in
faith and love for God, and AS I grow in faith and love for God…
I want to become less…
I have prayed for that….less
of me…..more of God
Less of arrogance and
more of humility……God is providing
Less of judgment and
more of compassion…..God is providing
Less of weakness and
weak will and more of strength and bold serving….God is providing
Less of talking and
more of listening…..God is providing
The less I am of me…
The more I grow into
Him…
Less is a good thing…
He tells us…
“The King
will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least
of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:39-41
“Jesus
said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of
Man sits on his throne, you who have followed me will also sit on the twelve
thrones…..and everyone who has left houses….for my sake will receive a hundred
times as much and will inherit eternal life…but, many who are first will be
last, and many who are last, will be first.”
Matthew 19: 28-30
And, as God is want to do….HE gave
me a daily reminder that I am to be frequently last….
I remember the first time I opened
the directory at SCOC after your Dad and I divorced and I had remarried and
become a Young…I looked for my name and yours and your brothers…and,
Fittingly….
Appropriately…
Alphabetically….
It was LAST.
I had gone from a comfortable “middle”
position in the directory….to
Last…
And, I remember thinking, “Lord, let
me always remember this moment….that I am to be less of me…last in importance
in this world and more of you.”
And you know….God, our precious
Father…He just loves us so much….
He gives us exactly…perfectly what
we need..
He gave me a “Y”……..
And, in the so doing, gave me one of
His greatest gifts in my life…
A constant reminder to be….Less
Less of me
MORE of HIM!
Blessings Sweet Daughter,
ILYAOYMC,
Mama
