Put Time And Effort Into What Matters Most to God: LOVE Purpose Driven Life Chapt. 16

“‘You must love the Lord your God will all your heart…’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40

Have you noticed that most of these chapters are about love?  Does it seem like it just might be important?  Rick Warren tells us it is what matters most.  Matthew tells us that Jesus told his apostles that loving God and loving His people are the two greatest commandments and that the other commandments are based on these two.

So if love is so important to God, how much time and effort do we put into it?  How many hours do we spend showing our love to God?  Or showing our love to our families?  Or to our fellow man, whether they are Christians, Jews or even non-believers?

Let’s not wait until we are on our deathbed to realize that our relationships are our most important accomplishments.  As Warren reminds us, “All you’re taking with you is your character.”  We won’t be taking any awards, gold watches, money, cars, designer clothes, or any material trappings showing earthly successes.  Yet, how often do we get trapped or sucked into the rat race for the material, sometimes even in the hope of helping or pleasing our families, but in reality robbing our loved ones of a quality relationship with us?

Even when we spend time together, how often are we not even looking at our loved ones?  How many of us eat in the car with our children staring at the back of our heads?  How often do we stare at the road, going to yet another destination?  At home, are we staring at a TV screen or a computer screen?  Even when we are cooking for our family, are we looking at our children when they speak to us, or are we too busy following the recipe?  How often do we face each other and look into each other’s eyes?

In Memoriam, Helena, ‘Thrice Blessed Momma’ Passes

We have lost one of our blogging sisters. A young mother of 5-year-old triplets has passed away only 2 years after the passing of her husband. These dear babies, Zoe, Madison and Jonathan, now have no parents. It was a sudden death and the family does not yet know the cause.

Helena of Thrice Blessed Momma had written in her next to last post, “I’m exhausted! This goes way beyond being tired. More than PCOS tired. More than SAHM of Triplets tired. More than I need to lose some (okay, lots of) weight tired. This is even more than PCOS-triplets-I need to lose weight tired. This is that and so much more. Deep in your bones tired. If I had no children and no responsibilities at all and could stay in bed and sleep for a month, I don’t think it would help. And it’s not depression either.”

And yes, the red type is hers, not mine. While her entire blog was in the traditional black type, this post was in bright red, crying out for help.

The family will be putting her blog into a book for her children. They are also interested in collecting memories for the book, and Helena’s cousin wrote in the comments section of Robin’s blog at Around the Island, “I can be reached via e-mail at samantha_edelman@hotmail.com. Please pass the word.”  Whether or not you knew Helena through her blog, years from now, when these babies are older, I’m sure it would please them to see many comments from all over the blogosphere in support of their dear mommy, whom they might only barely remember since they are so young.

I’ve only today discovered Helena’s blog through Robin’s blog post, but it has touched me. She had a good blog, and it was full of love for her children and her husband. I encourage you to visit her blog as friends would visit a memorial. Her blog can be a virtual memorial so that through blog hit statistics her family and her children can see how much she was loved too and how much blogosphere sisters (and brothers too!) care about each other.

Please do take the time.