I have a friend on Face Book who always ends every post about someone who has touched her life or blessed her in any way by referencing Philippians 1:3. After seeing this several times, I looked it up and found these words in the NLT, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.” What a wonderful way of letting someone know how much they mean to you!
I will be the first to admit that in my younger days there were times I began to take the special people God placed in my life for granted. After all, when my mother and father provided love and security, weren’t they just doing what parents are supposed to do? After my mother died and my father remarried, I completely underestimated the commitment of my step-mother, who provided loving care for a new husband and a teenager after raising two grown children of her own and experiencing the loss of her first husband.
I got married at the age of 20 to the love of my life. By that time I began to realize that I shared with Carol something special. Our love for each other was an extension of the unconditional love of God that He placed in our hearts. I knew from the beginning that not everyone was as blessed as I. But even then, I know there were times in our marriage that I took her loving care for granted; although my gratefulness to God for our nearly 51 years of marriage has now blocked the memory of those brief times.
Today, God has placed in my life so many wonderful Christian men and women who continue to care for me with agape love. It is impossible for me to take any of them for granted. Almost every day one or more of them touch me with their prayers and acts of kindness. Without them I know I would not have survived the loss of my wife or my mobility.
And now to each and every one of you reading this blog post – Philippians 1:3.