I Love Life

If you have a minute, I'd really like to tell you how much I love life.

First, I have the best, most loving and lovely wife that ever graced this rock. She has given me way more love than I deserve over the past 20 or so years, and I will never be able to afford the love she will give me in the future. I love her so much it makes my mind hurt when I try to comprehend it. She is THE BEST. The absolute best.

Second, my kids are so intelligent, good looking and basically just danged good kids, that they make Wally and The Beaver look like trouble-makers. I'm so proud of them for their accomplishments, but I'm also just so danged proud as a dad because they're my kids. They are the best kids a dad could EVER have. I love them with all my heart.

Third, I come from a wonderful family, with a loving Mom and Dad who were the best examples I could ever have. I love them both more than I could express. And I grew up with siblings who were my friends and continue to be so. I truly have been blessed in this regard. I've also got friends who I know will be my friends throughout all eternity. Maybe I can build my house in the hereafter next to theirs. Too many of them live in places I never get to go. Those reunions are so sweet.

Fourth, have you looked outside lately? Isn't it gorgeous? This world is so beautiful. Just look at this picture I took the other day of the sunset here in Virginia. Looking at that, how could you NOT love how beautiful this place is? The colorful trees in Autumn, the beautiful flowers in Spring, the gorgeous sunsets you can see just about any day. I can hear Louie Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" right now.

My niece, Alison, wrote on her blog this morning about people who think they are ugly or fat or somehow less than wonderful. It got me thinking about how I feel about myself, what I'd like to be in this life and how I'd like to be remembered. I'm not perfect, but I am absolutely perfect in some things. And to be quite frank about it, I like me. I really do. I sometimes wish I were taller and had more hair, but you know what? I've come to accept that neither of those, along with a host of other things, is going to happen, so I'd best get on with loving me. And I do. I'm a child of a loving and perfect Heavenly Father, and to be quite honest about it, with His genes coursing through my veins, how could I be anything but spectacular?

I receive a weekly email from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It gives me updates on the Choir and its activities. It also gives me the Spoken Word from the previous week's radio broadcast. In the email I got today, it talked about the lessons of our lives. It quoted an obituary a few kids wrote for their mother when she passed away. I'd like to quote it again here:

To love fiercely, and tell people before it's too late.
To be loyal, always.
To enjoy life-one bite at a time.
To laugh easily-with others and at yourself. . . .
To be generous with your time, money, and heart.
To love [yourself].
And to never forget that God adores [you].
- Obituary of Lucile Johnson

Think about it. If people remembered YOU this way, and you thought of yourself this way, wouldn't that make your whole life, even all of the suffering, worth it?

So here's my question for you. What are you going to do today to make it so?

I can tell you one thing we've done in our family. Since my sweetie and I got married and had kids, we've not gone ONE day without saying "I Love You" to each other. We never say goodbye on a phone call without saying it. We never leave the house without saying it. I also take the opportunity to tell me kids the same thing every chance I get. I think it's made a difference. At least I know my kids aren't shy about saying those three words. Of that I'm glad.

God adores me. God adores you. He really does. God, who made the world, the universe and everything in them, loves us! He knows our names. He knows everything about us. He is interested in our lives. God. Interested in me!

Makes you think, doesn't it?

I LOVE LIFE!

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