“We all enjoy a trip down memory lane as long as we can avoid the potholes.” (Anon) I like it when Memorial Day comes around, because I have some good memories. Not that the bad didn’t happen, but I choose to focus on the good. Cemeteries don’t depress me; I see the stones as a tribute to someone who has made a difference in this world. My father would take me to the cemetery and show me the grave of his best friend who died in the 1918 flu epidemic. ;-) Jack
FROM GUSTIE: I used to take my Peanut butter sandwich out to the cemetery and sit by my grandfather’s (Whom I never knew) headstone and have a picnic. Ok—I’m weird! Ha! ===JACK: That's not weird. That's great...and a good suggestion for the rest of us. A celebration of a live that has been lived...and an anticipation of the promise of eternal life.
FROM ST PAUL: I often think of standing out on Orchard Lake Rd and Cass Lake Rd selling little American flags to support the Optimist Club of Keego Harbor. lots of fun when Ledge was along. I can still smell his cigars. have a good weekend,===JACK: Ledge and I hatched the idea of a Memorial Day Service at the Pine Lake Cemetery...when we were having coffee together. I miss having him around.
FROM SK AT SJ: That’s a good thought for Memorial Day ! It doesn’t have to be ALL sad and somber. We will all be there someday. Best to live every day as best as we can . Here is a funny joke about that. My Dad would ask us when we drove by a cemetery, how many dead people are in that cemetery? We would hurry and try to count the gravestones. The answer: All of them. ===JACK: Some people wonder why they put fences around cemeteries...Are they afraid of people escaping? In my "work" I had occasion to visit cemeteries often. A mixture of feelings... But, ultimately, God is good.
FROM TAMPA SHIRL: That brings back the memory of one of our neighbors who would take us to riverside cemetery for the same reason!===JACK: Wasn't there a "Black Angel" somewhere in that cemetery?
FROM COPPER COUNTRY PASTOR: Heaps of thanks for the memories you have created in my life, and in thousands of others. Sometimes, even the pot-holes are good memories because they were means of correcting and redirecting me.===JACK:
FROM BLAZING OAKS: My twin's memory was all but erased when she suffered a major stroke at 78. It is really devastating not to have that connection of years of memories! Not to remember
your marriage, your children, your siblings!! She regained bits and pieces, but of course never the same. Since I was with her every day, mostly all day, we became close again. We didn't dwell much on the past! I don't spend much time in the cemetery, except to decorate the graves, and pay my respects (!) as we know these loved ones are now in a place prepared for them by Jesus! But good memories do keep us connected and are wonderful to have and cherish!!===JACK: This week's Zoom Bible Study was the "resurrection." We talked about how mysterious is death and life after death. I like Hadel's, "Behold, I tell you a mystery." Death (and even life) is a mystery.
No comments:
Post a Comment