We read picturesque stories to our children about families carving out a life on the prairie, or making their way in the cross-cultural streets of over-crowded cities at the turn of the last century. We read of Christmas stockings that were really stockings, knitted by hand, into which a tangerine, a toffee and a little toy comprised the sum of Christmas delights. We read of hard work and small returns, but of big investments of love and faith.
We read about kitchen tables whereupon nothing is set that was not grown, butchered, hatched, or milked from the acreage on which the house was built, or about kitchen cupboards that held only those staples that could be had for the pennies Father put by from his own struggling shop. Are we looking for “hard times” when we read and look back?
We are looking for love. Not mushy love, but solid love, love as solid as the earth and as refreshing as a mountain stream at the end of a hard, hot day. We read on, we watch the movies and listen to the conversations that in some way or another end alike, with the words or the illustration . . . “They didn’t have much, but they had love.”
When our stories are written, we ask that they may be memorable, worth reading again and again. Perhaps it will be said of us, “They didn’t have much, but they had love.”
There is another story worth telling, one that might be even more enduring, one that might be ours. Perhaps it will be said of us, “They had everything, but they gave it all for love.”
"Go Play in the Yard!"
photo by Kerry
Well put! I can't help but wonder if the reason so many marriages fail today is that they've had it too easy. We are so spoiled now. We know how to accept lavish gifts and blessings, but know little of hard work and sacrificial giving. We have much to learn, and with hard times come some good lessons.
ReplyDelete“They had everything, but they gave it all for love.”
ReplyDeleteTo which I would add -- and considered it a good bargain.