My Mom
Yesterday marked 27 years that my Mom has been gone from this earth. She passed away after a 2.5-year battle with cancer when she was 52 years old, and I was 25. I was only 25! Wow – I didn’t expect my mom to pass away this early on in my life but sometimes things just happen that are beyond our control. I loved my mom so much!
Since I was so young when she passed away, my mom didn’t get to see me get married (although she did meet my future wife before she passed away!). She didn’t get to enjoy all the successes and failures I’ve had over the years in my vocation. She didn’t get to see or interact with our two wonderful kids, or visit us in all of the places we lived over the years, or just plain be my mom when I needed her.
Fortunately for me, God took care of me and sent me a new mom in my mother in law around the same time my first Mom passed away (I have a hard time saying she is my mother in law when she has been my mom for all these years and has treated me like her son).
Why am I talking about this now and how does it relate to being a Real Christian Businessman? My message is simple today – don’t take for granted that what you already have.
You see, we all have a current job – but we complain about what is wrong with it. We all have great co-workers – but we look at those that bring everyone down when they are in the room and talk about them behind their back. We all have a boss – but instead of relating to what they probably have to deal with we sit around and complain about what they should and shouldn’t do and how they could be doing everything better.
All of this to say don’t take for granted what we have now, and look at the positive implications of everything that is going on around us.
I’ve thought many times about how it would be if my mom were still around. But instead of wondering what was, I made it a point from then on out that we would spend as much time as we could with my wife’s parents because we had no idea how long they would be on the earth (they are still here today btw!). That was over 25 years ago that I made that pledge, and our family continues to operate like that today and I’m so glad that we did.
So as you look at your vocation this week, take a view from the top instead of one from the ground. Look at what you HAVE instead of what you DON’T HAVE and see how you can make the best of it. We can all use a little perspective from time to time.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” I Tim 6:6-7 (NIV)