No cake... but love!

     The cake is all gone.
     Seriously, that entire, big, beautiful Edible Art cake is completely gone--in less that 24 hours.  The Fountains are like a ravenous horde of locusts... at least when it comes to cake.  Here today and gone, well, today.  I'm sad--only had one piece.  Sigh.  But life will surely provide more occasions worthy of celebration--losing a tooth, starting school, studying for a test, taking the test, folding a huge load of laundry or unloading all the groceries.  You just have to get creative when it comes to celebrating life, with cake, of course!
     But looking at the forlorn crumbs left from the decimated cake plate reminds me again of the beautiful brevity of life.  Our oldest daughter has already returned to Charlotte.  Our son leaves in a few days for college.  Our dog, Moses, remains at a  heightened state of alert due to the suitcases accumulating in the hall.  He hates suitcases, because they mean someone is leaving... and he doesn't want to get left behind.  I know the feeling.  This children growing up and leaving home stuff is totally for the birds.  How I want to grasp them all tightly and just keep them right here with us always--only without all the laundry and messy rooms--to laugh and share and grow and celebrate life.
     That option does not, however, seem to be on the table.  So in the meantime, we rejoice in the moments we have.  We laugh, we talk, we learn, we cry, we play, we work, we love.  And we eat cake, because life must be celebrated with those you love.  Lord, help us to treasure every second of this crazy, challenging adventure.  And Father, might not one hour pass without us reminding those we love, whether in words or actions, that we LOVE them!  We have forever in heaven, praise God, but we have only a few short years on this planet in which to love sacrificially and fully those the Lord has placed in our lives.
     Help us to love, Lord.  To love You first and foremost and then to love others.  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12)  And Jesus tells us this is the mark of a Christian--how they love.   "By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)  O might others know we are Christians by the way we love--exuberantly, fully, sacrificially, joyfully.  Might we love not just in words but in actions.  Might we love based not upon emotion, but based upon our Savior's example and enabling power.
       Lord Jesus, teach us and help us--by the power of Your Holy Spirit--to love as You loved.  Give us more love, Lord.  To God be the glory.