Love better . . .

I once told a Sunday School class, that if no oars are in the water, the boat isn't going to sit still. The nautical term is adrift. Without motive power and without anchor or mooring, so says Webster. It seems that the general day to day cares of this life are constantly pulling me away from the cares of the cross. Adrift, is something that I can not afford to be. I always have to be on my guard. But, I find that vigilance is not always the nearest companion of caring.

Part of this pursuit of perfection, in fact the best part of it, is the people whom I love. I have to be better; because I am day by day more aware of the little eyes that watch me, and I must be better, because I can not deal with the grief of failing them. And in this pursuit, I must remind myself to be kinder and sweeter. To love better, is really what I mean.

Whether we are motivated or not, we are teaching subsequent generations. Too many today want to live the life that they want, and then hope that their children will do better than they did. One of my instructors used to say, "People want to sow their wild oats, and then pray for a crop failure." If you get nothing else from this, take this to heart: Be the kind of person that you want your children to grow up to be. Only then can they do better, because only then will they be taught better. Starting right now, let all of us love better than we have before, and in so doing teach the world about the Christ who loved us so much.