- Proverbs 23:25 (NKJV) Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.
I’ve never been one to announce to the world that I was away from my home on vacation, but now that I’m back I want to continue with a tradition I started a few years ago and share a few more lessons I learned (or was reminded of) 
while on vacation.
A week ago today Sonja and I began our annual “fall vacation”. After a leisurely morning and mid-day we finally packed and headed out for Walhalla to spend the night with my parents—planning on arriving around 8:00 p.m.
There was a reason for the late arrival besides being on a vacation schedule…
People that know my mother well know that she suffers from chronic back pain. Even so, when Sonja and I visit with my parents she will spend hours in the kitchen preparing one of her “cooked-with-love” homemade meals. The result is she spends the next couple days trying to get over the back pain for having stood on her feet all that time. Therefore, my main purpose in arriving late was to spare my mother from cooking—after all, as much as I enjoy my mother’s cooking, my main purpose in visiting my parents was to see them.
However, my plans went awry; mother cooked anyway.
That is when I was reminded of my first vacation lesson: Love is more powerful than pain. (Cooking for us is one of the ways my mother says, “I love you.”)
Generally, pain is a wonderful gift from God. Without it we would do irreparable damage to ourselves—like putting our hand on a hot stove. However, love will cause a man or woman to risk life and limb by running into a burning building in an effort try to save their trapped child. Yes, love is stronger than pain.
Whatever you do, don’t abuse this principle. Never forget that you run the risk of causing great pain to those that love you. They may step up and give their support, resources and protection (because of love); but with all that there is often a heavy price of pain to pay. That “price” is called sacrifice—live your life in such a way as to be worthy of that pain (sacrifice).
The ONE THING 