Here we are at the end of the summer. I had intended to keep this updated even while we were home, but it (obviously) did not happen. Looking back over the last few months, it is hard to summarize all that we experienced. And maybe I shouldn't even try and just go from this point forward.
We had a good summer - times spent together, projects planned and worked on, wonderful time with family and friends, raising our animals, etc.
I haven't spent a lot of time reading, but I did have a short time in Florida, where I enjoyed Max Lucado's "He Still Moves Stones." I have pages of notes, but one of the most moving passages for me was the following on Mary and Mary..."The last to leave Calvary and the first to arrive at the grave. It isn't hope that leads the women up the mountain to the tomb - they are not hoping the tomb will be vacant. It is duty. Naked devotion. They expect nothing in return. They are not climbing the mountain to receive, they are going to the tomb to give. There are times when we, too, are called to love, expecting nothing in return. Times when we are called to give money to people who will never say thanks, to forgive those who won't forgive us, to come early and stay late when no one notices. Service prompted by duty.....Don't quit. For if you do, you may miss the answer to your prayers.
God still sends angels. And God still moves stones."
Sometimes, I become so weary with this world and feel beaten down and wonder "what is the point?" I just felt so encouraged to keep going. I was reminded that our rewards aren't here on earth, and our heavenly reward will be so much more than what we could even imagine. I am not sure how much I have thought on Mary and Mary going to the tomb, but I think in my mind I have always looked at it as them having faith, and their faith was rewarded. It is very different to look at it, that their service was rewarded. They had no idea that he would be risen; that his death on the cross happened so that the ultimate sacrifice was paid. The truth was so much greater than they could have imagined. But they didn't have to know all that to serve. They served, because they loved.
