Preparations are being made to spend time with family
next week .......
lots of lists, packing, and prayers for safety
the time we set aside for vacation
the coming together for a Day of Thanksgiving.
it seems these times
are when those who
have lived their lives,
and
have been ushered home
are missed the most.
~death runs in my family~
we all face the harshness & the reality
sooner or later
memories are recalled daily
as I walk past this table,
in the room where I give rest to my body
the majority of these framed faces
will not share the table with us
but their ~legacy~ lives on
memories of words, gestures, sayings
those linger
recollections shine bright
the prayers I remember hearing
the smells of chicken & dressing
the peering out the kitchen windows
as family members started arriving,
~
all these are mine to remember
~
Thankful for those who have left a legacy in my life.
~I long & pray for my children to have their own~
may the good ones out-weigh
those of anger, frustration and busyness
how mama loved to set the table
the smells of my cooking
the prayers daddy offered as hands were held
I pray the bad ones, the hurting ones
will wither be blown away & decay
I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough.
Nichole Nordeman
28 comments:
Karen! I seriously got the chills reading this post! All last week that song by Nichole Nordeman was running through my head and then I opened this post and saw the lines from it at the end. We have a connection you and I! :-) Thanks so much for this encouragement today especially as I am in a season of life where I am daily forced to go to God and ask Him to guide me as I try and leave the right kind of legacy for my little ones!
Vanessa
Hi Karen,
This is so loving and thoughtful. Leaving a legacy is important to me as well. I want to be remembered for how I lived and what impact I had to those who knew me. Like you, I think of those who've gone on before me; their lives echo in my memory.
Blessings and peace.
MTJ
A beautiful post and photos Karen. This time of year, I am especially thankful for Godly parents and special family memories that they left behind.
Beautiful!!!
I lake it!
Karen, I love this reminder of the importance of legacy. Thank you for this inspiring post.
Karen, you have GOT to quit making me cry! Love this post. So precious and how true your words are! I'll be missing my uncle and grandmother this year. It'll be hard, but I will give thanks for their legacy.
I too am grateful for memories of grandma and her round table and me sitting on pillows and the awesome smells and food...it's the best! :D
Oh sweet, sweet friend, you outdid yourself with this post. My eyes have hot tears, throat with a lump, heart with bittersweet pains--beautiful, just beautiful--I cannot stress to you how much this post touched me.
Love you so much,
Dianne
Precious memories from the past encourage us to build future memories today! I love you!
This is beautiful, Karen. It struck me deep in the heart. I feel the same as the writer about those empty spaces at the table an the legacy they left.
I LOVE the final line the most.
Karen you are a talented and heartfelt writer. This post touched me. Thank you.
This is beautiful, Karen and straight
from your heart I'm sure. As another
commenter said, I also like the final
line most. This song by Nicole has
always touched my heart.
Oh my prayer is like yours at the end...even today after some very hard confrontation...I pray the good outweighs the bad. I so love that song and it always makes me stop and cry. Thanks for sharing...a very precious post and it hit me in the heart.
You have a beautiful family!!!
Karen, thanks for reminding me what is truly important in this life. :)
Hi Karen:
Beautiful post & very beautiful blog.
Thank you for blessing my life through your blog.
Debbie Kay
Karen,
Such a moving post. Like you, the legacy of those who have gone before me live richly in my memory. As our extended family (cousins and all) gather for the holidays, we always recall the way those who went before us did things or said certain phrases. We laugh and we cry touched by those memories.
The ending lyrics are beautiful. I pray that my children felt Love the most, and that I pointed them to the Lord of Love and the Savior of their souls.
Have a Blessed Thanksgiving,
Janis
What a beautiful post Karen. May you and your family be blessed and have a wonderful Thanksgiving together.
What a lovely blog. I've enjoyed visiting. Bless you.
What lovely...lovely words you've written today!! Praying that you and your family have a wonderful time together...celebrating all that you are thankful for!
Beautiful, heart opening, breath taking words! This was a pleasure to share in with you and the rest. I'll amen that song, too.
Hi Karen! I MORE than ADORE your site! You are over the MOON with Gods love...I love that as Im strong in my Faith too! I WILL be following you! I have an Interior Design business and blog...I am doing 14 days of Christmas trees...TODAYS might touch you!...I would SOOO love and appreciate if you could stop by and visit! Todays tree theme is based on Christ! I also have a GIVEAWAY! YAY!!
*ENTER PAMPERING Give-Away Here *
I would love a comment...I dont get many as im a New Blogger :-)
Blessings*xoxokara
I can only say Amen to what everyone else has said. Thank you for sharing your heart.
Karen, I am crying...this is so touching. I so hope that I have left a good legacy for my son, he is grown and gone, but I wonder what he took away. Oh, Karen...thank you...this is absolutely beautiful. I am linking to this post.
I love that song by Nichole and pray that I will leave a lasting legacy! Hope we can catch up next week and have a blogging discussion. :) Call me when a good time arises.
Wow! This post made me more emotional than watching The Waltons.:D Loved the remembrance table in your bedroom.
Karen, this is GORGEOUS in every way. The words, the pictures...beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing! Safe travels next week, my friend! :-)
Love. This. Post.
What an amazing post and great photos. We have a lot of deaths in my family as well. Starting with my Dad when I was 16 and an average of 2 to 3 every year since then, usually around holidays for some reason. My Dad on halloween, my grandmother just before Christmas, My uncle on New years and the list goes on. What a great way to remember them.
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