Psalm 119 : 49-50 NKJV:
(49) “Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
(50) This is my comfort in my affliction,
For your word has given me life.”
A young military man, Everett Alvarez, Jr., was once given only thirty seconds to prepare a five-minute speech for his Toastmaster’s Club. He, at first, could not muster-up any type idea on which he could speak. Frantically he thought back trough his life in an attempt to conjure up a topic of discussion. He recalled a special time when, as a young boy, he traveled up and down the alley ways that crossed the blocks of houses within his own neighborhood, all the while searching through his neighbor’s trash cans for empty soda pop bottles to turn in at the corner grocery store. In return for every empty bottle turned in, the store owner gave a penny.
All day, he carried empty bottles to the store in his red wagon, until he had a small pile of copper coins…just enough to buy a birthday card and a chocolate candy bar. These purchases were to be surprise birthday presents for his dearly loved mother. He worked all day collecting empty pop bottles. At the end of the afternoon, when Everett finally returned home, his mother demanded, “Where have you been? I have been searching all over the neighborhood for you!”
As his mother continued her intense questioning, Everett blubbered out through his tears, “I was collecting empty pop bottles so that I could buy you these.” He sheepishly handed her the unsigned card and the candy bar that had nearly snapped in two in his pocket. His mother then began to cry as she proudly placed the gifts on a window ledge so that all of their neighbors and other passers by might be able to see them.
Everett Alvarez, Jr.’s speech spoke directly to all of the hearts of his audience—who just happened to be a group of fellow prisoners of war at the infamous Hanoi Hilton communist Viet Cong prison camp in North Vietnam. For many of the men in the audience it was the heritage of sacrificial family love and its related powerful bonds that was their “suit of armor,”…it was their “why” that enabled them to fight through the suffering and pain of being a prisoner. The binding strength of “family” proved to be the glue and grit within their own hearts and minds that empowered them to survive years of nightmarish torture.
The cultural foundational building block for all of God’s children, be they Believers or not, is the family unit. It is the mainstay of all societies and civilizations. When it exists and is strong, as God intended it to be, all members of the family grow together and get closer to one another as time passes. Love for one another is truly the binding strength for the family unit.
I exhort you to take a few moments right now and think back through your own life. Mentally go back as far as you can. Dwell on those people, things, and events that occurred in your life. Revisit the “random acts of kindness” that your parents and siblings poured out onto you. Think about what and how you returned their love through your own actions.
God had it so right on and correct when He discussed what love really is in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of 1 Corinthians. God tells us that Love is eternal,…it never dies. Real love suffers long and is kind. True love does not envy; does not parade itself, and is not puffed up; does not behave rudely; does not seek its own; is not provoked; thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.
Regardless of what is delivered onto you or into your life, always allow Love of your fellow man, and in particular of all of your own family members, to prevail far above all other concerns that arise during the course of your own life.
Remember and always heed the words of Jesus as recorded in the Book of Luke, Chapter 6, verse 38 ESV: “Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
God’s Greatest Blessings to All of You…………….