Blessed

I have been blessed.

I have been blessed in countless ways.

But the blessing of which I speak today is the blessing of my parents.

• By the time you read this, I will have just spent a week with them.
• By the time you read this, the vacation to visit their best friends will be over.
• By the time you read this, it is very likely they will be glad to be rid of me, and I them as we return home!

But regardless, I am blessed.

I am so grateful to have the time provided by the church to take this week off, and escape the pressures of ministry and leadership-and to just love my folks by being with them.

I am blessed.

Let me share just a couple memories of my folks that crossed my mind recently.

I remember my mother's prayers. For much of my childhood, I had to walk past the open door of my parent's bedroom to get to my room. It was not uncommon in the evening to pass that doorway and see my mother, on her knees saying her prayers. She prayed for me then. She prays for me still. I am blessed.

I remember my Dad's leadership. He was always a deacon and was one of the kind of deacon that always supported, encouraged, lifted up, cheered on, his pastor. I remember times seeing Dad sitting in the car talking with other leaders in the church after a meeting, or after church visitation-and they would sit and talk, and talk and sit, and sit and talk. I didn't know it then, but Dad was doing the good work of encouragement and prayer. Over the past 30 years my Dad has been he kind of deacon who supported, encouraged, lifted up, and cheered on-this pastor too.

I am blessed. Are you?

Maybe you don't have those kinds of memories. I grieve with you if you do not. But the question really is, are you a blessing? Are there those who will remember and think fondly of you, after the "trip" is over?

Be a blessing. It begins with a decision, right now. Who will you bless? How will you bless them? That last note that you want sounded for your life when the trip is over is that word: blessed.