Insights from a refrigerator

I wanted to share an excerpt from a book I'm re-reading that really moved me recently (read: encouraged me at the same time I bawled my eyes out... but my emotions are a bit raw lately). I hope it touches you the way it touched me. The author writes about the scene she gazes at as she looks at her picture-covered refrigerator.

As I pondered the scene before me, I was struck with the wonder and significance of the family- for better or worse. The family is at the heart of what really matters to all of us. If things aren't well at home, every other area of life is affected. I looked at those scores of women sitting like mother hens surrounded by their brood of young ones, and I felt an enormous sense of gratitude for the willingness of those women to be givers and nurturers of life.

In the middle of all the photos, I have placed a bumper sticker you may recall seeing several years ago: "Life: What a Beautiful Choice." These women have chosen life by bearing children (something only a woman can do, I might add); and they are choosing life every day...

• with every meal they prepare;
• with every load of dirty clothes they wash;
• with every trip they make to the grocery store, to school, to the dentist, to piano lessons, to soccer practice, or to the shoe store;
• with every scraped knee they bandage;
• with every encouraging word they speak;
• with every hour they spend rocking a sick or scared child;
• with every dispute they arbitrate;
• with every moment they spend building Legos, coloring, helping with math problems, reading a Bible story, or listening to a husband or child describe his day;
• with every moment they spend interceding for the spiritual growth and protection of their family.

Day in and day out, they are building a home; they are being lifegivers; they are laying a foundation and building a memorial that will outlive them for generations to come; they are honoring their Creator in the greatest possible way.