A Milestone And A Celebration

Today is a very special day - it's a milestone and a day of celebration. We are celebrating the life of my dear little mother who is eighty six today. She loves to laugh and say that she and Abraham Lincoln share a birthday but 'she' is much younger! He would be two hundred years old today; of course she is younger than that. And so today is a very busy day - a day of surprises and together time. A day to stop and thank God for this very special lady who graces our lives. And to thank Him for the years He has given us that we didn't expect to have with her. In just a few days it will be sixteen years since a cardiologist stood in the hallway of a nearby hospital and told me that the massive heart attack she had suffered had damaged her heart so severely that she couldn't live more than a one year. But God had other plans for her - and He touched her heart in ways that can only be explained as miraculous. There was a bit of healing and some restoration to her damaged heart and, while she always lives with restrictions, she is an amazing lady. She knows that God has kept her here on this earth for a purpose. To serve Him and to touch the lives of people around her a bit longer, however long that may be. And so today we will laugh and reminisce and share time together with family and we will celebrate this one we love so dearly. And somewhere in these hours we will quietly remember to give thanks to God once again for His grace to her - and to us - and for giving us these years together. And we will make plans for the future. We have places to go and people to see. There's still a lot on her list! Today I will take her to one of those places and this evening when our family gathers to honor her life my sweetheart and I will surprise her with plans for another one of those 'always wanted to do' things on her list. And so today my heart will laugh and celebrate. But in those quiet moments my heart will be filled with such gratitude for the blessing of this precious mother God gave to me.