On Father's Day, our church has traditionally recognized the most experienced dad (a nice way for saying the oldest), the dad with the most children present, and the "newest" dad in our Sunday School joint assembly time. They do the same thing on Mother's Day, of course, for equal time for the parents.
Yesterday, since the dad who usually gets the honor was out sick, my dad was named the most experienced dad--meaning he was the oldest. I had to think a bit to consider what that made me exactly and came to the conclusion that I, too, was somewhat experienced.
Last week, one of my elementary school friends passed away. She was a tiny bit younger than me but we, along with her brother, were in the same class all during elementary school. At the funeral home visitation I asked about her brother as, surprisingly with my faulty memory, I remembered his name. Sadly, I did not remember his face as he was standing there fairly close by. 50+ years does change our looks. He said that he remembered me and since he called me by name, I had to believe him. What does that say for my memory? Yeah, right, I thought so too.
He and I shared memories from our school days and teachers. I found myself remembering teachers and how they looked when I was in those elementary grades. Let me tell you, they looked old. I was going to say mature, but let's be honest. They looked old. When I calculated the math, they were probably younger then than I am now. I found myself pondering the fact that my elementary friend went on to be with the Lord at a time that we all might consider "too soon".
The week before last, The Husband and I had to have our air conditioner replaced. Granted, it was like me and pretty old. I was told the replacement was a very high efficiency model, unlike the old one. I told The Husband that depending on how efficient it was, it might last longer than us. It's kind of funny (and not funny funny but funny otherwise) that we consider this and puts our age in perspective yet again.
As I considered this experience and age thing, I found myself being reminded that there's something to be said for experience. I get to "experience" the joy that being a "Neema" brings. I used to enjoy getting the senior discount at my local grocery stores until they decided they would do away with that. Bad idea on their part, in my opinion. In a couple of weeks, I will experience 39 years of being married to a wonderful man. Experience has taught me that big weddings are not that spectacularly big and necessary. Experience has taught me that people are more important than things. Experience has taught me that the good health of a diabetic child, be that child a child or an adult child, is something to be soooo grateful for. Experience has taught me that the good health of "self" is something to be grateful for as well. Experience has taught me to value this day as I am not promised any more. Experience has taught me that my salvation and relationship with my Heavenly Father is the greatest joy of all. "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows." And experience has taught me much more than I have time or effort to share.
Experience has taught me that no matter what the future holds, God is already there. And in that, I can be confident in whatever life dishes out to me.
Consider........
Yesterday, since the dad who usually gets the honor was out sick, my dad was named the most experienced dad--meaning he was the oldest. I had to think a bit to consider what that made me exactly and came to the conclusion that I, too, was somewhat experienced.
Last week, one of my elementary school friends passed away. She was a tiny bit younger than me but we, along with her brother, were in the same class all during elementary school. At the funeral home visitation I asked about her brother as, surprisingly with my faulty memory, I remembered his name. Sadly, I did not remember his face as he was standing there fairly close by. 50+ years does change our looks. He said that he remembered me and since he called me by name, I had to believe him. What does that say for my memory? Yeah, right, I thought so too.
He and I shared memories from our school days and teachers. I found myself remembering teachers and how they looked when I was in those elementary grades. Let me tell you, they looked old. I was going to say mature, but let's be honest. They looked old. When I calculated the math, they were probably younger then than I am now. I found myself pondering the fact that my elementary friend went on to be with the Lord at a time that we all might consider "too soon".
The week before last, The Husband and I had to have our air conditioner replaced. Granted, it was like me and pretty old. I was told the replacement was a very high efficiency model, unlike the old one. I told The Husband that depending on how efficient it was, it might last longer than us. It's kind of funny (and not funny funny but funny otherwise) that we consider this and puts our age in perspective yet again.
As I considered this experience and age thing, I found myself being reminded that there's something to be said for experience. I get to "experience" the joy that being a "Neema" brings. I used to enjoy getting the senior discount at my local grocery stores until they decided they would do away with that. Bad idea on their part, in my opinion. In a couple of weeks, I will experience 39 years of being married to a wonderful man. Experience has taught me that big weddings are not that spectacularly big and necessary. Experience has taught me that people are more important than things. Experience has taught me that the good health of a diabetic child, be that child a child or an adult child, is something to be soooo grateful for. Experience has taught me that the good health of "self" is something to be grateful for as well. Experience has taught me to value this day as I am not promised any more. Experience has taught me that my salvation and relationship with my Heavenly Father is the greatest joy of all. "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows." And experience has taught me much more than I have time or effort to share.
Experience has taught me that no matter what the future holds, God is already there. And in that, I can be confident in whatever life dishes out to me.
Consider........
No comments:
Post a Comment