Was it real?
A few days ago, I wrote about the simple life growing up. As I was closing my thoughts, I asked the question, "Was it real?" "Was it really so?" This perfect , simple childhood of mine in my mind. My heart was saddened for the loss of that innocence, especially for my grandchildren growing up now.
Well, just as He does sometimes, God laid a gift in my hands. I was in my spare bedroom`s closet, looking through old papers and pictures for something particular. (Actually that is becoming a normal game for me these days , to look for something that I want but can`t find!!)
Anyway, I came across a little book that I am sure I had seen before because it was packed neatly in one of the boxes of things I had brought back from Mother`s house. Things I didn`t want to get rid of, but things I had not gone completely through, even yet, after almost 5 years.. It was titled, "A Christmas Collection of Inspirational Verses" by Helen Steiner Rice. I flipped it open to see who the book belonged to, and inside the cover was written, "to Jane, from Mrs. Chanceller, January 2, 1965 for 100% attendance during December. Now, that doesn`t really seem like a lot, during the month of December, but a reminder that my Daddy saw to it that we were at church every single time the doors were open. No conflicts for us. We didn`t plan anything that would conflict with our church time.. Thank you Daddy, for bringing us up with Church and God as our priority. Another memory of how life was simple way back then.....
I opened the pages and came to this one page titled, "Was it really so?" I read the little passage that Helen Steiner Rice had written many years ago and like a light bulb moment,..... it rang in so true for today and always in this world of ours.....
"A star in the sky, an Angel`s voice telling the world, rejoice, rejoice..
But that was centuries and centuries ago, and we ask today, was it really so?
Was the Christ Child born in a manger bed without a pillow to rest His head?
Did He walk on earth and live and die and return to God to dwell on high?
We were not there to hear or see, but our hopes and dreams of Eternity
are centered around that holy story when God sent us His Son in Glory
And life on earth has not been the same, regardless of what the skeptics claim,
for no event ever left behind, a transformation of this kind.
So question and search and doubt , if you will, but the Story of Christmas is living still
And though man may conquer the earth and the sea,
He cannot conquer Eternity...
and with all his triumph man is but a clod until he comes to rest with God."
Loved her words, reminding us that no matter what people think they can change in this world, the truth of God lives and no one can touch our eternity with Him. Yes He indeed is real. Good is real. Love is real. People will let you down, but the truth of God, the hope we have in God, shines and will be soooo worth it when we see Him in Heaven for all of eternity.
Today, I am thankful for these memories. My dear friend is taking her Mother to live in an assisted home today. Her memory is going and she is no longer able to stay by herself. What a hard task it is for your children to be making these decisions for parents. But as with me, those precious memories she has had a life time of making with her sweet Mother, will get her through these next hard pages of life.
Memories are essential to our living... without them, we become dependant of others.... not remembering how to take care of ourselves. Memories are what I cherish about my childhood. Memories are what keeps my parents and my other loved ones who are no longer with us.. Alive to me. . It is a good thing to slow down and go down memory lane sometimes, if we don`t use them, they become dimmer and dimmer. As I get older, I know one day, they will become brighter and more real as I get close to and reach my final home...
