The Lord Blesses. Amen?

Good Morning

Stand with me and lift your bible and repeat after me.

This is my Bible.

I am what it says I am.

I can do what it says I can do.

I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.

Today I will learn more of the word of God.

The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.

I will never be the same.

I will never be the same.

In Jesus Name

Amen?

Good morning to you all.

Everything we experience in life is part of the blessings we get while we live our lives and sometimes, we need to stop and think about them and say, “Thank You”. To the Lord.

Open your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 and say, “Amen” when you are there.

Let’s go to verse 23 and read it together.

1st Corinthians 9:23

“I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

That is what life is about.

The blessings.

My Aunt Anna is still part of my life today. She met Uncle Jules, an Italian gentleman who was serving in the United States Army at the end of World War 1 in Germany. They fell in love while he was serving there, and the two of them came to the United States with her two brothers joining them.

My Aunt Anna’s spaghetti sauce was a wonder to behold. Once a month our family would always gather around for a huge dinner at their house that was more of a feast than a meal. For hours, the smell of the simmering sauce would fill the house and I would breathe in deep with delight.

My Aunt Anna would slowly cook Italian sausages, meatballs, potatoes, and pieces of chicken in it too. Then she would boil enough pasta to feed a small army and slice the loaves of Italian bread she had baked earlier. When I finally sat down at the table, I could feel my taste buds jumping for joy in my mouth. By the time dinner was done both my stomach and my heart would be full of happiness. I remember her saying to me, “God has great plans for you.”

My Aunt Anna passed away in the mid 90’s and for years I tried to duplicate my Anna’s recipe but was never able to get it exactly right. I would try always measure out just the right amounts of garlic, parsley, bay leaves, salt, sugar, pepper, and olive oil to add to the tomato sauce. I would simmer it slowly and stir it with care, but it never came out as good as hers.

Finally, one day it dawned on me that I was missing the secret ingredient that made hers so special: her love.

You see, Aunt Anna always served her spaghetti with a big smile, a gentle hug, and the loving words: “Mangia! Mangia!” Which meant “Eat! Eat!” I could always taste her love for us in every bite.

But it really was the blessings from her loving us.

Love is a blessing and the secret ingredient in life’s recipe from God. The more you love, the more your life will taste like joy.

The more love you give to others, the more your days will become a feast of happiness that never ends.

The more love you share, the more you become like the greatest chef of all: God.

I will probably think about Aunt Anna’s sauce again the next time I have spaghetti. Whatever I have it will never taste the same as hers, but the smell of it cooking will bring back the memories of her love and laughter.

My wife and best friend, makes great pasta meals and what she does every day in her ways of loving me and others adds to the great memories that I have in my life.

But what goes along with that is all the other things that we each of us have learned through what has happened in our lives through the Lord.

And while I am slowly enjoying my next pasta meal, I may think about Aunt Anna, but the blessing now is better.

I know the Lord is first in my life today.

I did not know Him then, but I learned about love as I grew up from many people and when I ask the Lord to take over my life, it became permanent. His love is never ending.

I heard story a while ago about a young boy who in the early 1930” s worked in a grocery store after school every day. He was 12 years old, and he was hating every minute of working there but it helped his family stay together by him earning a few extra dollars each week.