(originally posted 12/29/2006)
Random House defines selflessness as having little or no concern for oneself.
I say selflessness can be defined in so many people around me.
I can define it in my mother who just helped me secure half my Christmas list, who tirelessly keeps her Grandchildren and is a natural born "giver".
I can define it in my late husband's mother (aka Nanny), who after losing her own son is still such an active part of our lives. She knows my heart...she knows my struggles....she has seen me at my best and seen me at my worst. She has welcomed my new husband with open arms to every family gathering, holiday and even when he just drops in on them. Things could have fared much differently in that front and we are so blessed that they did not. Blessed is an understatement! Bear with me while I elaborate-
Yesterday brought together members from three different families. Paw Paw Waid, Chad and Chad's Dad were working on our stalls for our horses. My Mom was there keeping an eye on the girls and letting them play with their Christmas presents. Meanwhile, Nanny was inside helping me and my home to recover from the holiday. I came home to loads and loads of washed and folded laundry and a clean kitchen. Nanny has always been this way and I am so THANKFUL that she did not change when I remarried.
So, now she finds herself ..........
laundering and folding the clothes of a man who is not her son, a man who is raising her granddaughters but not her son....
making venison chili at the request of a man who is not her son....
watching her husband build stalls with a man who is not her son.....
buying Christmas presents for a man who is not her son.....
Keeping Christmas lunch warm as we ran late, sitting at the table with a man who is not her son.....
I wonder what she would give to have one more Christmas with the man who is her son?Somehow I don't think she would mind doing his laundry one more time, or making him chili, or buying him the biggest present on his list and I certainly don't think she'd mind keeping lunch warm if he were late.
She's still doing all these things, thru the grief and pain of a mother losing a child she trudges forward......an example of selflessness for all to see.
So for my last FaithFul Friday post in 2006, I leave you with some scripture from the book of Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-5 "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
1 Corinthians 10:24 " Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being."
I pray this is a lesson to us all that we can all take to heart and apply in the days and years ahead. God bless you all!
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