Give the Free Gift Worth More than $1 Billion

This gift won’t leave you or your family even when you suffer and die.

I know this because my life is so much better because of dad.

His final days hold a clue about the real treasure of life.

Turn losses into treasured gain

Death is the supreme test of our lives.

But, it is also the supreme opportunity because living well is the key to dying well.

“He who lives well will die well.”  Robert Bellarmine

Living well means all of your decisions and choices reflect . . .

• generosity over greed
• relationships over selfishness

In other words, investing in family and friends is most valuable.

It takes a lifetime to develop.

Cleaving to generosity over goods is like athletic training.

The pay off is rich relationships now and later.

Dad shares love with everybody.

I notice how the nurses, techs and doctors treat my father like he’s their father.

Dad says “thank you” to every procedure or test and I hear “it’s a pleasure to care for you” and “you’re a sweetheart.”

Is there a better way to be esteemed?

What really counts at the end

Mitch Albom’s memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie, says that money can’t walk us through death.

In the end, what lasts is love, our love for God and our love for family and friends.

Judas Iscariot died alone with…

• no faith
• no friends
• no family

Instead, he was cut off from God and everyone.

“In suffering, we face the choice we faced all of our lives.  Serve ourselves or serve others.”  SB

Politics reflect the angst of many today

Selfishness and cynicism dominate political opinions in the USA.

Why?  Because angst dominates us.

And so, the whole country suffers.

But, Christian faith espouses a love that extinguishes angst.

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: ‘Love others as you love yourself.’ That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”  Galatians 3:13-15, The Message 

People die the same way they lived

That’s how I know the gift my father gave me is worth more than $1 billion.

He gave it to me all his life.

He gave it to strangers too.

• It came with his gaze.
• It came with his listening.
• It came with his smile.

“I love you son.”

What are your reflections this holiday season?