On my desk, at The Kirbarosa, I have three Bibles. First appearances might have you wondering why I need three Bibles when there are people throughout the world who don't even own one Bible. Actually, only one of them actually belong to me. The other two Bibles belonged to my parents. I keep them on my desk as a reminder of one of the greatest gifts God ever gave me. The gift of Godly parents.
My mother's Bible was given to her by her mother when Mom was eleven years old. This is the Bible she took with her to church on Sunday mornings and the one from which she did her daily devotions. It is the Bible which gave her both strength and comfort in her journey here on earth. There is nothing fancy about her Bible; to me it reminds me of the simplistic and humble way she went about her life.
As I look over at my father's Bible the binding is now almost completely off and the leather cover is cracking and faded. In the margins of the pages are notes he made as he read and studied God's Word. It is the Bible he used on the night that he showed me God's plan for salvation and I received Jesus into my heart. In the latter years of my father's life, he had suffered several debilitating strokes which made him partially blind and with limited speaking capacity. During those years, when I went to visit him, he always had this Bible next to him on the little table that was beside his chair. I know he couldn't read it but I think it brought him comfort knowing it was there. When he died, its pages provided one last blessing as I read some of Dad's favorite passages from it as we said goodbye to the greatest man I ever knew.
Unlike my parents, I have had several Bibles in my lifetime. The current one on my desk is not worn and tattered but it is a LARGE print edition. Brother Bill's eye's aren't what they used to be. I use it for my daily quiet time with God. It is the book I turn to when I need comfort and inspiration. Perhaps one day my Bible will mean as much to my children as my parent's Bibles have meant to me. Hopefully, my children will see a man who's life was changed by it's pages in the same way that I saw my father's life transformed.
There is an old saying that goes, "A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone whose life isn't." My parents never had an easy life; but they had each other and they took comfort in God's Word. I reminded of that every time I sit down at my desk and see how their Bibles were "well used." When I look at the condition of their Bibles, I am also reminded that despite outside appearances, what really matters is what's on the inside. I take comfort in the fact that God's Word and Love endures forever.
Be Well.
Bill
