A Mother's Sacrifice



picture from National Geographic

This is a true story of a mother’s sacrifice during the Japanese earthquake in 2011.

After the earthquake subsided, the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house. They saw her dead body through the cracks. However, her pose was strange as she knelt on her knees like a person that is worshiping; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supporting by an object. The collapsed house had crashed on her back and head.

With so many difficulties, the leader of the rescue team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to reach the woman’s body. He was hoping that this woman could be still alive. However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away for sure.

He and the rest of the team left the house and were going to search the next collapsed building. For some reasons, the team leader was driven by a compelling force to go back to the house of the dead woman. This time, he knelt down and passed his hand through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement, ''A child! There is a child!''

The whole team worked together. They carefully removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a three month old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. The woman had obviously made an ultimate sacrifice to save her son. She had used her body to protect her son when the house collapsed. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

The medical doctor came quickly to examine the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said,” If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” This cell phone was passed around from one hand to another among the rescuers. Everybody that read the message wept.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

1 John 3:16

What Will Matter



Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.
Michael Josephson

'Love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven...' But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 5:44,46

You May Give Without Loving, but You Cannot Love Without Giving.



 Mount Moriah Temple Mount Area in Jerusalem Today

Most authorities believe King David's Temple was built on Mount Moriah where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac.  But there's another Hebrew legend that presents a different story.

The legend says that two brothers lived on adjoining farms which were divided from the peak to the base of the mountain.  The younger brother lived alone, unmarried.  The older brother had a large family.

One night during grain harvest, the older brother awoke and thought, My brother is all alone.  To cheer his heart, I will take some of my sheaves and lay them on his side of the field.

At the same hour, the younger brother awoke and thought, My brother has a large family and greater needs than I do.  As he sleeps, I'll put some of my sheaves on his side of the field.  Each brother went out carrying sheaves to the other's field and met halfway.  When they declared their intentions to each other, they dropped their sheaves and embraced.  It is at that place, the legend claims, the Temple was built.

Whether this story is true or not, it exemplifies the best expression of love--giving.  Giving is one of life's best relation-builders.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16