Words to Live By

Having parents who look to spiritual principles to guide their lives is a blessing. My father and mother were examples of living fully and joyfully when I was growing up. Now my mother and mother-in-law, with both my father and father-in-law passed away, are examples of choosing to trust God when the nature and scope of their independence is changing. I am so thankful for the lessons in living that they teach me.

When Mother moved to her new apartment in Provisions Living retirement community in April 2009, she discarded a folder full of clippings and notes that had served as raw material for devotional talks and Sunday School lessons through the years. Recently when I arrived for a visit, she had three scraps of paper that she had saved from that folder waiting on her table. On the back of the top one she had written “Get Linda to type.” On the other side she had printed “A Bible Verse to Live By” followed by two Scripture references, her favorite and my father’s favorite verse. I grew up knowing that Micah 6:8 was Daddy’s favorite; he quoted it often. I had not realized what Mother’s was. I treasure these verses. These are from the Kings James Version.

Micah 6: 8 (My father’s favorite verse)

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6: 8

Deuteronomy 10:12 (My mother’s favorite verse)

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, . . . Deuteronomy 10:12

As I typed I wondered if Grandma Sugar, my mother-in-law, had a the favorite verse. I gave her a call. She said not any one particular verse. What she likes best, she said, is “Knowing that the Lord heals me.” She has experienced healing up close and personal and said many verses in the Bible give her that assurance.