It has been a wonderful week

I'm feeling very lucky to have such a wonderful wife and beautiful children. And the children are all well married and will be able to face whatever adversity that may come their way.

Whenever I feel so well about life, the dark Irish side of me pops up and asks how I deserve such blessings, and in fact haven't I earned disaster and misery in my careless irresponsible life. I'm sure that I have. Besides God's generosity to me, I must credit the love and faithful support of the women in my life: wife, mother, sisters, and daughters. I think of my father, too, and the kindness he showed me, in spite of my too many to count short comings and failures, always encouraging me to take the next step forward as if the past mis-steps meant nothing at all.

Being the beneficiary of so much love and kindness has protected me from the harsh consequences of my own misbehavior. I've been blessed. Usually, the darkness lingers long enough for me to ask myself, what will God say about how little I've done with all those gifts. Then I remember what a fellow told me years ago about how pitifully inadequate and offensive any of us will be, standing before God, and that's why we must be washed in the blood of the Savior when we come before Him, and that will cover the repellent scars and disfigurations of our souls, and He will see us only as the beloved of his Son and will accept us into His kingdom. Then the peace and joy we know will be measured by how devoted we were to the Lord in our lifetime. I guess that's why the saints and prophets kept praying to God to make them more devoted. I have a long way to go, but sometimes it seems like less of a struggle than at others.