Insights from a Refrigerator

In preparing for the Bible study I am leading on Wednesday nights I came across these "Insights from a Refrigerator" and was so touched by them that I wanted to share them with all of you, especially you moms out there! So grab a tissue and enjoy!

Insights From A Refrigerator

My refrigerator serves as a backdrop for photographs of my friends and their families. Mounted in acrylic frames with magnets on the back, the pictures cover almost every square inch of available space. The nearly ninety families represented have a total of some three hundred children (not to mention scores of grandchildren).

Recently I spent a couple of hours in an annual ritual of replacing old photos with new ones that had been sent to me during the Christmas season.

When all the photos were in place, I sat back to survey the "big picture." I reviewed some of the highlights these families have experienced over the past year. Eight had been blessed with the birth of a new baby. At least seven had a grandchild born. Seven had a son or daughter get married. Fifteen had moved. Six had made or were in the process of making a vocational change.

Nearly all the faces in these photos are smiling. But behind some of the near-perfect poses, I know there is more. Several individuals have confided a burden in relation to the physical or spiritual condition of specific family members. Three have recently buried a member of their immediate family. One couple is in the midst of an ugly divorce.

As I pondered the scene before me, I was struck with the wonder and significance of the family - for better or worse. The family is at the heart of what really matters to all of us. If things aren't well at home, every other area of life is affected. I looked to those scores of women sitting like mother hens surrounded by their brood of young ones, and I felt an enormous sense of gratitude for the willingness of those women to be givers and nurturers of life.

In the middle of all the photos, I have placed a bumper sticker you may recall seeing several years ago; "Life: What A Beautiful Choice." These women have chosen life by bearing children (something only a woman can do, I might add); and they are choosing life every day....

• with every meal they prepare;
• with every load of dirty clothes they wash;
• with every trip to the grocery store, to school, to the dentist, to piano lessons, to soccer practice, or to the shoe store;
• with every scraped knee they bandage;
• with every encouraging word they speak;
• with every night hour they spend rocking a sick or scared child;
• with every dispute they arbitrate;
• with every moment they spend building Legos, coloring, helping with math problems, reading a Bible story, or listening to a husband or child describe his day;
• with every moment they spend interceding for the spiritual growth and protection of their family.

Day in and day out, they are building a home; they are being life-givers; they are laying a foundation and building a memorial that will outlive them for generations to come; they are honoring their Creator in the greatest possible way.

(The above was taken from "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, pages 129-131).


I pray that the Lord would use this to speak encouragement to your heart today, and to inspire you to be the life-giver that He created you to be!