Devotion 408 - 90

Daddy always made it clear; his oldest brother was his hero. Whenever there was a question about integrity, about drive, about the battle out of poverty and the value of education, Daddy would point us to the example of his oldest brother.

 

In every way Daddy’s brother broke molds and in so doing he set footsteps for Daddy to follow and standards for him to meet.  Sons of very poor coal miners rarely graduate college and run companies but these boys did just that.

Daddy insisted after our family business took flight that his brother sit on our board.  Somehow he knew the mentor ship that meant so much to him would build something in us.

I will admit my love for my uncle was only equaled by my admiration of him.  In every way, he was larger than life.  I sat a little straighter when he came in the room.  He was a force to be reckoned with.  I thought deeper, considered my words longer and held life tighter.  He taught me to value only the most important parts of life.  He taught me it was family first, truth, integrity and the incredible value of faith in God and hard work.

Somewhere in those early years of our company, while walking across a street, my uncle was hit by a car.  He recovered in every way physically but the softness I had seen only on rare occasions became the norm and I learned to love him more.

He was all that he had been before, but the heart that hid behind his fierce work ethic and fiery discipline was now front and center.

At our family gatherings, he would bring his gavel and run the show.  He would rap the table and everyone knew to listen.  He would hold his audience captive as three generations would hear about the family values, the gift of time, and as he reminisced about his own parents, he would remind we never knew when our last time together might be.

As only God could orchestrate, our very last time together with all the aunts and uncles would be at my wedding.  I called them all; well before “save the dates” were vogue.  I wanted all my dear ones there and they were.

My uncle pulled me aside at that wedding.  I stood armed with the schedule I had written, the maps I had drawn and he said three words, 

“It was perfect.”

 

Almost three decades later I still treasure that moment with all my heart.

Some weeks after that perfect day a letter arrived in the mail penned by my uncle along with two fifty-dollar bills.

The money was meaningful to struggling newlyweds but the words were priceless.  My uncle knew I was crazy in love.  He also knew me.  He knew sometimes crazy would be a little bigger than love.  He wrote, “The world will tell you marriage is 50-50.  Always live like it is 90-10.  Give 90 always.  Pray more and give more.”

Ninety percent is hard.  I fail more days than I succeed, sometimes I would settle for a solid fifty.  I have come to understand to live at ninety or even to try, we have to think about how we want to finish.  Do we want to finish well?  Do we want to finish out of breath, or do we want to finish without regret?

 

Living without regret means living big.  It means giving ninety and knowing the Holy Spirit will fill in the rest.

It means listening in the quiet and hearing the Lord.

It means wearing our hearts outside and allowing the world to see not who we want to be but who we are.

It means living not a busy life but a life available.

It means praying loud and believing louder.

It means recognizing the devil marginalizes but God builds.

Like the married life, I am convinced the Christian life requires not just our participation but our passion.

We do not know when the last time with our lovelies will come, let us love them ninety.

Let us speak as if it is our last words.

Let us fiercely hold on to truth.

Let us listen and let us see weaving healing and hope in our silence and in our vision.

 

And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.  Ephesians 3:19-20