SOME THINGS YOU KEEP

Like good teeth.

Warm coats.

Bald husbands.

They're good for you, reliable and practical and so sublime that to throw them away would make the garbage man a thief. So you hang on because something old is sometimes better than something new, and what you know is often better than a stranger.

These are my thoughts. They make me sound old, old and tame and dull at a time when everybody else is risky and racy and flashing all that's new and improved in their lives. New careers, new thighs, new lips, new cars. The world is dizzy with trade-ins. I could keep track, but I don't think I want to.

I grew up in the fifties with practical parents; a mother, God bless her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it - and still does. A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones. They weren't poor, my parents, they were just satisfied. Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers and tee shirt and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, dishtowel in the other. It was a time for fixing things - a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things you keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant there'd always be more.

But then my father died, and on that clear autumn night in the chill of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any "more." Sometimes what you care about most gets all used up and goes away, never to return. So, while you have it, it's best to love it and care for it and fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick.
That's true for marriage and old cars and children with bad report cards and dogs with bad hips and aging parents. You
keep them because they're worth it, because you're worth it.

Some things you keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate you grew up with, there are just some things that make life important... people you know are special...and you KEEP them close!                              

Author unknown
                  UNDER HIS WINGS
An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings.

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.

Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings.

The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, that those under the cover of her wings would live.

"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge." (Psalm 91:4.)

Being loved this much should make a difference in your life. Remember the One who loves you and then be different because of it.  

Author unknown
Index 2
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INDEX 2
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