When you look up the definition of the word “priority”, the dictionary says: a thing that is regarded as more important than another. I think that we all have priorities. For some of us, they are home and family. For others, they are exercise and well-being. For yet others, they are work and accomplishment.
These are pictures of my Daddy’s Bible. When I was a first-year student in Education for Ministry at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford, Mississippi, our mentor/teacher suggested that we buy a copy of the RSV Oxford Annotated Bible to use as our study bible throughout our EFM experience. After purchasing mine, I took it by my parents’ house and showed it to my Daddy. He loved it! My Mom gave a copy of that same Bible to my Dad for his next birthday, and clearly he loved it.
From 1984, when he was given this Bible, until his death in 2007, my Daddy kept this Bible pretty close at hand. Obviously he used it often! I can recall visiting him in his last years, when he could no longer see the words on the pages or comprehend what they meant, still holding his Bible close. After my Mom died, I received his Bible and it means a great deal to me. I look at it, and I think about what his priorities were in life. The yard may go unmowed, the car may go unwashed, the chores that consume our days may go uncompleted, but God’s love for us as told through the stories in the Bible is everlasting. What is your priority?