For Anna

Philippians 1: 3-4 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy (NLT)

It is a shame that sometimes we only gain perspective through heartbreaking tragedy. That we only stop the busyness of our lives when we are literally forced to or God forbid when we have to bury someone. This week we bury someone I loved dearly. Someone I should have said that too more often than I did, especially near the end. Of course, we often have no idea when that end is coming.

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone. James 4: 14 (NLT)

But that is the great illusion of time we all live under. That somehow we will always have tomorrow to take care of what we should be doing or saying today. Time is not long on this earth; it is but a glimmer. A faint moment lost in a grand picture. A single thread in a magnificent tapestry. Along with this elusive truth is the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt. That the very things that make up our lives and give them the purpose and the joy it has are the very things we do not consider nearly enough. We live our lives often in complete obliviousness to the splendor of life God has given us every single day because it becomes commonplace. We can easily begin take for granted the things we should be on our knees thanking God for every day. Our families, our friends, our church, our pastors. The truth is that I would rather be poor in money but blessed in people. I thank God for the people He has strategically poured into my life. My family, my friends, my church family. I know though that I have a habit of taking them for granted and for that I am sorry. Because there is nothing you can do when they are gone. There is nothing you can say. The mere words I write currently are just words. They might move you. They might make you cry. They might inspire you. But they can do nothing about the person who has already left us. They are too insignificant for the task.

My words cannot bring back the person that I love. They can memorialize her. They can honor her. But they have no real power. No power over the single thing we fear the most and pay attention to the least life and death. But Anna deserved so much more than this ending. And even though she deserves so much more than I can possibly write, the Lord says I still must write. I have been praying for a Word from God. A magical Scripture that can sum up how special Anna was to me and to everyone she met. A Scripture that would really embody the love that she lived her entire life with; always giving to others. Instead however, God gave me a practical Scripture. A Scripture that we can take moving forward so that her life causes us to do something beyond merely remembering her. But God never wastes a single word He has given us.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2Timothy 3: 16-17 (NLT)

ALL Scripture is inspired by God. All of it corrects us and teaches us. God uses it to prepare and equip us for the good work He would have us do. Anna was always about doing the good work God wanted her to do. She was the "poster child" for Martha from the story of Mary and Martha. Her life should serve as a reminder that you can live with the measure of grace God has given you. Anna always did.

So we find ourselves with the key Scriptures today coming from the start of the letter of Paul to the Church at Philippi. This was a church that Paul founded on his journeys and now he is writing them from prison. And while the Book of Philippians is filled with great theology that we need to shape how we are to be as Christians, it is these simple introductory verses that God is saying to me today to remember when I think of dear Anna. They represent what we simply do not do enough on this earth. God is saying it is time to stop taking for granted all that He has already given us. There are two essential parts here.

First of all, we should be thankful to God for the people he has brought into our lives. Note the language the Apostle Paul is using here. He is not saying that occasionally he thanks God for the people in Philippi. These were friends of Paul. These were fellow ministry workers and laborers in God's fields. These were no doubt people that Paul loved dearly. I want us to remember today these words

EVERY TIME I THINK OF YOU

I GIVE THANKS TO MY GOD

I separated the two thoughts because we often do that in our lives. Giving thanks to God is almost ritualistic. We thank Him for waking us up. We thank Him at meal time. We thank Him for traveling mercies. On the flip side, we treat our thought process as almost haphazard. A thought comes in and goes out, never reconsidered. Someone pops into our heads and then we quickly move onto whatever busyness we are occupying our time with. Realize beloved that you job is not your life. Your career is not your life. Neither is your house, your car, your church, your vacations, your activities, your clubs, or anything else you use to fill up the spaces on your calendar. It is the people that make up your life. Your life has value in direct proportion to the people in it that are affected by who you are. I can tell you that Anna's life from that perspective has eternal value.

Can you imagine if we could ever get ourselves properly conditioned to give thanks to God for someone simply because we thought of them? That when your mother, brother, or friend pop into your head that you could stop your busyness for that 30 necessary seconds and give thanks to God for that specific person! My God, how much more valuable do you make that person in your heart? How much more likely are you to express that value to them? How much more would you appreciate them in your life? Instead of a passing thought that dissipates in the breezes of our busy day, we actually take 30 seconds and thank God Almighty for who that person is in our lives! How do you think you would feel the next time you see that person? How much more precious did you make them to your being? And realize that is only one time! One isolated incident. One thought translated into thanksgiving unto God. But maybe you think of them again the next day. Maybe two days after that. Now you have stopped the busyness of your life four times in one week to thank God for this person and who they are in your life! How much more valuable have just made them? Here are some familiar verses:

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 (NLT)

We live our lives often in perpetual drama and unrest. Hopping from one stress to another. Sometimes the peace of God can seem very elusive. But what is the key revealed in these verses? Yes prayer is certainly important and we will get to that momentarily but without thanksgiving, there is no peace! God's peace is so powerful that it transcends our mere mortal understanding and it is available if we would only have a thankful spirit. Anna had a thankful spirit. A spirit that had no problem stopping and praying for someone. A spirit that always thought of others before herself. The first thing God is saying to us today is stop the busyness of our lives long enough to actually enjoy our lives. Stop and be thankful for the people God has poured into you. Don't take them for granted. EVERY time I think of you I give THANKS to my God.

Secondly, Paul says whenever he prays; he makes requests for all of the Philippians with joy. Too often our prayer life can devolve into a whine list to God about the things we want in our lives. I am not suggesting that we do not take our needs to God in prayer but that perhaps our focus should be on praying for each other rather than ourselves. Notice that Paul is not saying that whenever he prays for the Philippians specifically he manages to pray for all of them. It is WHENEVER he prays at all! I think the second message God is sending here is to make our prayer life be about the people He has blessed us with. Once again, it adds value to our hearts for them. It allows us to be focused on the needs of others instead of ourselves. That is how Anna lived her life.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6: 18 (NLT)

Persistent prayer for all believers. For everyone in our lives. For the people that matter the most to us that we often overlook. That we have seen day in and day out so we assume they are always going to be there. Prayer works and it strengthens your relationship with God and ultimately with the people you are praying for. Your connection to them and their needs are strengthened by the act of praying for them.

So we bury a woman today that I loved very dearly. One of only a few in my lifetime that I shared a love with. One time recently she said to me that if she loved me and I loved her, why isn't love enough. At the time I told her that it wasn't that simple. In retrospect, maybe I was mistaken. Maybe we make things more difficult than they really are. But that was Anna. She didn't make things more difficult than they were. So filled with love that love should have been enough. It should always be enough.

What remains the best way to truly honor the love with which she lived her life though? I think the verses God has given me today highlight two key principles. First we must stop seeking for blessings and start appreciating the ones we already have. That those blessings are found in people not things, not material possessions, not any of the inanimate things that fill up our day but rather the people that fill up our lives. That we give our flowers to people while they are still alive. That we take the people around us that we love and we tell them that we love them. That we increase their value in our lives daily by stopping whatever busyness we are facing to thank God for them every single time that we have pause to think about them at all. That our thought process becomes our thanksgiving. That we appreciate people and tell them so. That we love people and tell them so. Those are all things that Anna did so well in her life. Everyone who met her felt that she cared about them, even if they only met her one time.

Secondly that we pray actively for the people God has blessed us with. That through the act of prayer alone we strengthen our relationship with God and with the person we are praying for. The Bible says that the prayer of the righteous availeth much. This life should not always about us, which grates against the "me-centric" society we live in. If we ever could live for and pray for those around us how much more valuable do we make ourselves to each other?

Any problem in any relationship can usually be traced back to selfishness in some form. What if our entire basis for dealing with each other became selfless? If our thought life became a vehicle for thanking God for the people we have. The people we love. If our prayer life become about interceding for the people we have. The people we love. How much closer would that bring us to God and to each other? At bare minimum, that would bring us to a place where when God forbid we are burying someone, we know that we have no regrets regarding them at all. No room for the enemy to come in and accuse. No ground to concede.

That should be Anna's legacy. A life led in love; concerned about other people before ourselves. A thankful life always blessing others and praising God for what we have, not what we think we do not have. A prayerful life full of intercession for others; strengthening our relationship with God and with the people we love in our lives. That was who Anna was and will always be. I pray we pause long enough to learn through her death, how to live during life. Amen.

Reverend Anthony Wade December 12, 2011

Postscript: As the sun sets on your beautiful life Anna I want you to know that I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you at the end. To let you know how much you meant to me and those around you. To let you know how positively you affected all of our lives. To let you know that on your worst day, you were always my better half. I love you baby.