Appetite for Life

My dad's in a nursing home. He's over 96. Considering how hard his life has been --growing up in poverty with seven other siblings, forced to quit school to help support the family, seeing his buddies die during World War ll, working two or more jobs while also going to school to finish a bachelor's and a master's degree --it's amazing he's continued to slog through life.

Mostly, my dad sleeps. (He deserves sleep, don't you think?)

He has few joys left to him. He can't hear, he has difficulty speaking, the other inmates at the home aren't quite what you would call scintillating company, and I'm not sure he always recognizes his daughters and sons when they come to visit.

But one thing still makes my dad's Santa Claus-blue eyes open wide: the promise of dessert.

Yes, Jim Nicolaisen has one thing left that keeps the feeble ember of his life still burning.

Somehow, just imagining Daddy slurping up a Coldstone milkshake or the last piece of my niece's Sweet Sixteen party cake makes me laugh. For most of their married life, my mother kept tight control over how much sweets Daddy could eat. So he kept a secret stash hidden somewhere from which he could indulge from time to time.

But that's all over now. Whatever Daddy wants, Daddy gets --sweetswise.

I thought about my own life. What is my appetite for life? What keeps me prancing (or slogging) through my days?

Have you thought about that, too? What is your reason for living?

I suppose a better question might be: if your possessions, your job, your health, your friends were taken from you, would you still have an appetite for life?

Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." (John 4:34)

Jesus had an appetite for doing God's will; that was His sole purpose on earth.

Gosh, I would love to acquire an Appetite like that.

"Lord, please build up in me the desire (appetite) to  do what ever it is you've planned for me to do."

Scripture for the day:

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." (Phil. 2:13)