My Lenten Journey - Day 5

March 8, 2014

Today is Saturday and my family and I have a plan to meet my husband's brother and sister-in-law from Chicago area for a spring training baseball game.  What a fun time we have ahead of us.  Family and baseball.  Beer and pretzels.  FELLOWSHIP.  We had a great time at the game, we talked, laughed and told stories.  We didn't watch much baseball.  Baseball was a secondary entertainment to each other.  The sun was out, it was breezy and a perfect afternoon.  Afterwards we went to eat and fellowship some more.  Then we drove to the highest point we know in Phoenix, called Dobbins Point, to look at the city at night.  Beautiful.

It has been a long time since I have seen my husband laugh and smile for long periods, but today was one of them.  Relationships matter.  Our relationships are what fuels our hearts.  It's time togtether that builds relationships.  You cannot know someone without spending time with them.  My husband and his brother have not spent a whole lot of adult time together, but this was a day that fueled more days like today.  This relationship is going in the right direction.  We also celebrated his brother's 5 year anniversary for being in remission from cancer.  Praise God!  We are going to make it an annual celebration.  What a joy to celebrate his cancer free every year with a baseball game and family!  Both my husband and his brother were put into foster care TOGETHER, unlike their other siblings.  They talked about how much their foster parents "saved their lives".  They spoke about what the odds were for them to succeed in life and they celebrated their success and overcoming the odds.  They gave thanks to God.

I leave today knowing that Jesus never meant us for journey through life alone.  We are meant to have relationships with people.  When we block people out of our lives, we also block out love.   We have to be purposeful in our relationships.  We have to be intentional.  We have to INTENTIONAL seek out these relationships and nurture them.  If you don't give yourself away in love, you will never really know what it means to live.

"When I walk in love God is present"  1 John 4:12

God, I thank you for this day.  It was truly a day of restoration between two brothers and two families.  It was a day of giving praise to you and who y
ou put in our lives.  We ask you humbly for more "family" days and for a mind to continually look for ways to reconcile differences and spend time with loved ones.  Help us to die to our selfishness and to be more sacrificial in our love towards one another.  In Jesus name, amen.