A Life Well Lived

Last week was a very full week. A week that has me thinking about the beauty of a life well lived. A week that has challenged me to live on purpose. To think about what kind of legacy I will leave for future generations.

Early in the week we took a field trip to a farm. One of my very dear friends is a bonafide farm girl. She was driving a tractor before I learned to ride a bike. Her parents still farm hundreds of acres and are currently harvesting soy beans. They graciously invited us to come learn about harvesting first hand. Unfortunately, it rained and we learned that you can't cut beans when they are wet. However, the boys had a great time driving, yes driving, the John Deere tractor around the acreage, sliding down the gravity flow wagon and playing hide and go seek in the barn with "Grandpa Blankenbecker". I learned a lot more than that. I stood in amazement at acres of land that this grandpa had cleared over the summer. Land that had once been wooded, the trees were cut, the stumps were pulled, the rough places smoothed, and the low places built up . This was his "side work". There were still fields to be planted(some more than once due to the weather) and the garden to be tended and fruit trees to be pruned and equipment to be maintained. The list could go on and on. His sweet wife works beside him tending their home and garden, growing more than they could ever use. These people are old enough to be my parents and the energy they exert on a daily basis is convicting to my 30-something sluggishness.

As I stood in the field that day the thought went through my head, "What keeps them going? What motivates them to get out of bed when their bodies are tired?" I'm sure their reasons are many. But as an outside observer 3 things were evident. 1. They work as unto the Lord. I don't think they give it a lot of thought. There is work to be done and they do it. As a workman that needeth not be ashamed. 2. They think beyond the present. Much of the work this grandfather does is for the future. From clearing land, to maintaining equipment, to running with endless energy after little boys. All of this effort is put forth to build for something that doesn't fade away when his flesh does. 3. Others. The garden and fruit trees that countless family, friends and neighbors have benefited from through the years were not planted, tended and harvested for themselves alone. There probably isn't much in their lives that is done for themselves alone. And so as we drove away that day with garden ripe tomatoes and sweet potatoes, with full tummies from a delicious meal, with exhausted smiling boys who thanked God that night for the Blankenbeckers, my heart was challenged by lives that had been and are still being lived well.

At the end of the week we attended the funeral of our dear sweet neighbor Ms. Lu. Our family is so blessed to have known Ms. Lu. Through the years we've watched that as her body grew frail, her spirit seemed to grow stronger. I had the privilege to "sit" with Ms. Lu quite a bit and from my pathetic attempts to make salad dressing the way she liked it, to giving her a bath she was always thankful. Full of joy and encouragement. Just a year ago she would sit in her chair and play catch with my boys(they used a sponge ball). I can still hear her laughter. When her heart got so bad that getting out of bed was even too much for her, she would call the boys in and ask how they were. She graciously let them read to her and encouraged them by telling them how much they were improving. It was not uncommon to see both boys sitting on the bed with her, all three of them watching Paula Deen cook and commenting on how good the food looked. Lu faced a lot of adversity in her life, and even at the end, confined to bed, she never gave way to bitterness. In the final days of Lu's life, before she slipped into a coma she smiled and looked up and said, "Oh, I know you Jesus, and you know me!" What a precious testimony to leave us.

I'm challenged by Lu's life. No matter what we face in this life, whether it be hardships, sickness, or joy at the end of it all, all that will matter is if He knows us, and we know Him. Her life was well lived and her passing was sweet.

And so, thanks to the lives I've observed, I face this new week challenged to work hard, to love deeply, to help others, to focus on my blessings and to seek to really know Him.