Hungary 3 - Dunakeszi, Hungary
As we were saying good bye to to my new son-in-law's 93 year old Hungarian grandmother, an interesting thought struck me. Here is a woman who was born in 1920, lived through two world wars, the communist era, three husbands, the death of one of her three children and only God knows what else, and her parting words were that the important thing in life is to have faith, hope and love, but mostly love. For a believer in Jesus Christ, really, there isn't much else to be said. For someone who has lived 93 years on this earth and to sum it up like that, well if it's good enough for her then it's probably good enough for me!
Earlier, we had spent time with his 96 year-old grandmother, who had birthed 11 kids, seen all the political upheaval mentioned above, plus, her husband left her when her youngest was 1 years-old, and she had raised all eleven children as a single mom. As we spoke with her through translation, it was obvious that she was a beautiful follower of Christ, gracious, loving, and a true believer in the power of forgiveness.
In all seriousness I found myself contemplating what would be my advice at age 33, 53 and 93? Would I have the same advice as they? I must also add that both women are very sharp minded with not a hint of slowness to the brain at all. I believe that if their bodies would have allowed it they would have cooked us a 5 course meal as well! And obviously they must know something from the experience of living for more than 90 years!
To answer my question above, I firmly believe the cares of my world today and the things that I think are so important right now, as well as the things that aren't eternal that always seem to weigh me down would not be the same cares if I were a 93 year old. At 93, as a believer, I would have had a plethora of opportunities to witness many of God's miracles, provisions, answers to prayer and experience His unfailing love. I would have the knowledge that yes, God keeps his promises and He is good all the time! I would have seen the evidence of so much invested faith, felt the fulfillment of hope through such long-suffering, and experienced first hand that God's love never fails.
The experience left me with a longing to live today with the faith, hope, and love for God and others as if I had the experience of having lived, tasted and seen of the goodness of The Lord for 93 years. Some would say this is a platitude. Others would say it's merely good practice for heaven. What we as believers need to work out, is how to make that future reality as practical as we can for as many years as the Lord has planned for us to spend here.
As we were saying good bye to to my new son-in-law's 93 year old Hungarian grandmother, an interesting thought struck me. Here is a woman who was born in 1920, lived through two world wars, the communist era, three husbands, the death of one of her three children and only God knows what else, and her parting words were that the important thing in life is to have faith, hope and love, but mostly love. For a believer in Jesus Christ, really, there isn't much else to be said. For someone who has lived 93 years on this earth and to sum it up like that, well if it's good enough for her then it's probably good enough for me!
Earlier, we had spent time with his 96 year-old grandmother, who had birthed 11 kids, seen all the political upheaval mentioned above, plus, her husband left her when her youngest was 1 years-old, and she had raised all eleven children as a single mom. As we spoke with her through translation, it was obvious that she was a beautiful follower of Christ, gracious, loving, and a true believer in the power of forgiveness.
In all seriousness I found myself contemplating what would be my advice at age 33, 53 and 93? Would I have the same advice as they? I must also add that both women are very sharp minded with not a hint of slowness to the brain at all. I believe that if their bodies would have allowed it they would have cooked us a 5 course meal as well! And obviously they must know something from the experience of living for more than 90 years!
To answer my question above, I firmly believe the cares of my world today and the things that I think are so important right now, as well as the things that aren't eternal that always seem to weigh me down would not be the same cares if I were a 93 year old. At 93, as a believer, I would have had a plethora of opportunities to witness many of God's miracles, provisions, answers to prayer and experience His unfailing love. I would have the knowledge that yes, God keeps his promises and He is good all the time! I would have seen the evidence of so much invested faith, felt the fulfillment of hope through such long-suffering, and experienced first hand that God's love never fails.
The experience left me with a longing to live today with the faith, hope, and love for God and others as if I had the experience of having lived, tasted and seen of the goodness of The Lord for 93 years. Some would say this is a platitude. Others would say it's merely good practice for heaven. What we as believers need to work out, is how to make that future reality as practical as we can for as many years as the Lord has planned for us to spend here.
"Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)
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