When your life on this earth is said and done and you will only be a memory in the hearts and minds of those who knew you best, what will they remember you for? Will you be remembered for having a big heart, for loving others unconditionally, for being a shoulder that they can lean upon or will you be remembered for being selfish, unloving, harsh and unpleasant? We must become introspective from time to time and ask ourselves these questions so that we can evaluate how we are leading our life. Are we leading our life with love? Are we doing all that we can to show those around us how much they really mean to us? We must act purposefully, we must take the initiative and make an extra effort to make our love known. (James 4:14) (Romans 12:9-10)

What will we have gained 100 years from now wanting only for our own betterment? Absolutely nothing! All that we have and all that we ever wish to gain will have no relevance when you breathe our last breath, but the love that was purposefully shown will never die. Love can't die. It lives on in the hearts and minds of those whom we were fortunate enough to touch in a positive and caring way. The laughs we share, the kind words we give, the positive affirmations we impart are all simple ways of giving love from us to them that will continue with them far longer than we can ever think or imagine. (Matthew 6:19-21) (Luke 6:35)

No matter where you are in your life presently, I encourage you to start sharing love. Don't wait for that one to be kind to you first, to smile at you first, to love you first, to speak lovingly to you first, but you take the reins and follow the example of the Lord Jesus and offer love without motive and without pretense. Do so because you want your life to be impactful upon this earth and because you know your life is meant to be significant. The most important thing that we can ever hope to do is to be remembered for our love. Think about your life and do all that you can to use every bit of it for good until it is all used up. (Philippians 2:3-7) (Philippians 2:14-16)

I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to see how a life that is lived in love will continue to live on in our hearts no matter where they may go from us.


REMEMBER LOVE

My Italian Grandmother was a wonderful woman. “Nanny” had a loving, vibrant soul that she carried around in a short, heavyset body. She had a passion for life that expressed itself in so many ways. It was in the hugs she gave, the meals she cooked, and the flowers she grew. It was even in the temper she lost from time to time. I think one of the reasons I was never taught Italian by my Dad was he was afraid I might learn the meaning of some of those words Nanny said when she was upset.

Nanny raised four sons and then helped my Mom and Dad raise me and my two brothers as well. I always felt blessed growing up in her home as a boy. She worked hard, laughed loud, and was never afraid of what life threw at her. Life wasn’t that easy on her either. She suffered from health problems all her life and even survived an operation for a brain tumor. When she fell and broke her hip in her eighties, my Dad was forced to admit that he could no longer take care of her at home.

It was with a heavy heart that Dad moved Nanny into a nursing home. She lost weight and was confined to a wheelchair. Yet, even as her body shrunk and withered her spirit stayed strong. The nurses there loved her and her zest for life. Even her Italian temper brought smiles to them as they learned a few “choice” words of Italian from her as well. Our whole family gathered together for her 90th birthday in the nursing home dining room. It was a wonderful celebration of her life and the love we all had for her.

Shortly after that birthday, however, life gave her the toughest challenge of all as age and illness started to take her mind from her too. The Dementia grew worse and worse over the last few years of her life. At times when I visited her she didn’t know who I was. It was heartbreaking to see her this way. She spoke less and less and stayed in her bed more and more. Sometimes all I could do was just sit by her bed and hold her hand.

During one of these visits I was holding her hand while she slept and remembering the person she used to be. My soul was in mourning that life could take everything from her like this. At that moment she awoke. Her eyes gazed up at me and I could tell she didn’t recognize me. She looked down at my hand holding hers and instead of pulling hers away, she smiled at me. Then she closed her eyes and went peacefully back to sleep. I could see then that even though her mind didn’t remember me, her spirit still remembered love and that was enough.

In the end this life takes away everything we have except our love. Our love can never be taken away. It can never be destroyed. It can never be forgotten. Our love is eternal. It makes us one with God. It lives in us all through this life and it lives on into the next. It was my Nanny’s love that made her the special soul she was. And it is your love that makes you the special soul you are. Always remember to love then. It is who you are. It is what you are meant for. It is what life is all about.

By Joseph J. Mazzella


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

1 Peter 4:8-10 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Galatians 6:2-4 “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

1 Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

Hebrews 12:1-3 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the Joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible. 


Today’s Selected Poem: THE COMMISSION
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem17.htm

Today’s Selected Testimony: TAKING A GOOD LOOK
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony189.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry