A Beautiful Life. By Collin Towersey Recently I went and spent some time in the beautiful country of Guatemala. When I speak of beauty I am not speaking of the appearance, but rather the hearts of the people. In 2009, seventy percent of the children under the age of five living in rural areas were malnourished, and not a lot has changed since then. Yet, through the midst of their struggles, the people have managed to find such joy and happiness. Something that I believe the western culture has fallen away from is the importance of family. In Guatemala the family sticks together through thick and thin. Families are close, and support one another. The people are not constantly on their cell phones looking for the next way out of spending some quality family time, but rather, they are enjoying their loved ones. I believe that the United States is suffering from what I like to call “Generational Dysfunction.” Parents are raising their children with little to no involvement. They are not teaching the core values of God, family, education, and life. In response, those children that have grown up without the involvement of their parents and repeat the same pattern. The pattern never breaks, until someone decides to step up and says, “enough is enough.” It takes a strong father and a strong mother to raise a healthy Christian home. This does not mean times are not going to get tough. My parents have done an amazing job in raising my sister Katie and I, and are amongst celebrating 26 beautiful years of marriage. They have raised me to be respectful, humble, honoring, loving, and compassionate towards others. Yet I still mess up on frequent occasions. Sometimes I lose the path that God has put before me. Sometimes I’m hard to forgive others, or hard to forgive myself. But this is the beauty of Grace. Jesus died so that we would not have to live a life of worry, doubt, or self-affliction. Satan understands the places in our lives in which he can take advantage of us. He finds our deepest wounds and takes us down as far as he can take us. He can destroy us through our relationships, or places we were hurt when younger. John 10: 10 says, “The thief comes to steal kill and destroy, but I come so that you may have life, and have it to the full. God has intended for us to live in peace with a clear conscience. To defeat the Evil one, we must learn to forgive and forget; something I have often struggled with, and am now seeing the overwhelming affects in which The Evil one can work. Where there is a lack of forgiveness, Satan can destroy us. With the support of family, church family, and loved ones, we can lift one another up. To love more like the Guatemalans, and more like Jesus, we can bring a new hope to this nation, living hand and hand with one another. For generations to come, this would make for a beautiful life.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:19:03 +0000
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