One of my favorite people of the last century was Winston Churchill. He was a good man. He once said, “Nitpicking is something I shall never put up with!” Someone wrote him a note saying, “Mr. Churchill, it isn’t good English to end a sentence with a preposition.” His response to the writer was, “Nitpicking is something up with which I shall not put.” If we are faithful to God, our golden years are ahead of us.

My mind is still lingering with excitement about the Rome Leadership Prayer breakfast, which took place early last May at The Forum. Let us not forget to pray for our churches and each other. Let us thank our Lord for the unrelenting love that will not let us go. “Lord, lift us from our spiritual poverty to the riches of your grace. We thank you for creating us in your image. Remind us that you never stop loving us in spite of our failures and sins.”

You only pass this way once. The journey from the cradle to the grave is swift. Be sure you give life your very best. God created us in his image, and he loved us before we knew him. While we were yet sinners, Christ loved us.

The Bible reminds us, “There is faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” We can be rich in things that pass away, but love is forever.

Loved ones have gone ahead of us. They rest by the crystal sea, looking down earth’s dusty path, waiting for you and me. I hear familiar voices on the distant rims of space. I feel love and laughter from those ahead of us. We shall soon embrace them, never to be separated again. Life is wonderful and challenging. It is also filled with strife. The path is steep, the burdens heavy. Sometimes I stop to rest, and then rise again.

Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:12,13) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

If you do not have the love of God in your heart and the love of your fellow man, you do not have anything worth bragging about.

Thank you, Lord for a restful night,

Thank you for the morning’s light,

Thank you for friends so dear,

And loved ones who bring us cheer.

My prayer for the day is:

Lord, let me be a little kinder,

let me be a little blinder

To the faults of those about me,

let me praise a little more.

Let me be, when I am weary, just a little bit more cheery,

Let me serve a little better those that I am striving for.

Let me be a little braver when temptations bid me waver,

Let me strive a little harder to be all that I should be.

Let me be a little meeker, to the brother that is weaker;

Let me think more of my neighbor and a little less of me.

Robert V. Ozment is a retired United Methodist minister.