Another daughter turned 40 in 2016. I appreciate her tender heart. She has agreed to guest post on my blog. So, thank you, Erin, for this timely reminder of what’s really important. 

I’m turning 40 this week and here is what I know: God is real and He loves us.  These ‘family values’ hung on our wall when I was growing up. God is real and He loves us’ was the first value and I’ve thought about it often these last few years. I have lots of questions about God and His ways. I don’t understand a lot of things about Him. He doesn’t answer prayers in the way I think He should sometimes. He is silent sometimes. But, sometimes He …does answer. Sometimes He isn’t silent. And, sometimes, He gives gifts not even on our radar. And, often, those are the sweetest gifts of all.

Also included in our ‘family values’:People are more important than things. How disheartening this world is lately. Gun violence, war violence, domestic violence…it’s just gut-wrenching. I get discouraged. I don’t know what the answer is. More gun laws? Fewer gun laws? More war? Less war? Sit ins? Walk outs? Protests? Silence? I have no idea. No answers. None. All I know is that people are more important than any of it. And if we valued each and every person and taught our children to do the same then maybe things would be better. I know, I know, it’s not that simple. But, what if it was that simple? What if life meant something? What if every life was valued and what if we showed people they were valued? A few weeks ago, the kids and I, stopped at a traffic light, observed a homeless man walking up and down the middle of the street with a sign. We watched a boy-maybe 12 or 13?-abandon the bike he was riding and run across the intersection. He dropped several bills into the homeless man’s paper cup. Then, we watched as the homeless man wiped tears from his eyes. And I wiped tears from mine. Oh, I hope my children value life like that-not just that they notice, but that they act. I want to meet that boy’s mother. Maybe I’ll have things more figured out when I’m 50, but this is pretty much all I’m sure about at 40: God is real and He loves us. People are more important than things. And, the way I want to respond is to love God back and love people better. As I enter a new decade, I’m really excited to do a better job of that.