Yesterday came suddenly

Saturday is the day I get the bulk of my groceries and cook and put together things that can be done ahead of time for the Sunday lunch with my family. In years past there was never less than twenty-two to twenty-five people here for Sunday lunch every week but now that number has whittled down to around fifteen. When I opened the refrigerator door to put away things I realized that my fridge was stacked with all the leftovers of the week and needed to be cleaned out. It happens every week and I find some interesting things my family has kept for one reason or another. Included in the treasures there are half empty plastic Starbucks cups, pieces of some kind of dessert in a Styrofoam box, and today I found half a baked potato that I’m sure someone intended to come back and get but forgot all about it. As I cleaned it all out so I could start all over again, I smiled. It makes me happy that my “kids” are around to leave bits of food, or a stray shoe where it doesn’t belong, unfolded clothes in the laundry room and the list goes on and on. I have realized something that my mother never caught hold of, most women of her generation never did either and to me that is just sad.

This house seldom gets quiet enough to think! Usually there are drums pounding out new beats, dogs barking, televisions blaring, computers on, people looking for those misplaced clothes I was talking about earlier so that when there is a sudden quietness, it is so loud you have to sit up and notice! That happened to me this evening, whew! For a moment you can almost hear the noise or you’re waiting for a door to be slammed, when it doesn’t happen you take a long breath and say “Thanks!” I wrote my thoughts in a notebook (that my mom found and had framed for me) about the deafening silence the absence of an 8-year-old boy in the house could bring. I was in a particularly sad mood when I wrote it, as it was my son’s first trip away from me, with his dad. He had never spent the night away and as much as I had complained about the crazy music of the Nintendo, having to lower the toilet seat, getting up at night for “one more drink of water and good night kiss”, when he was gone it was too much. Having a child is like having your heart walk around on the outside of you where you can’t protect it the way you would like.

We kind of roll along, life happens, we are in school wanting to be out, we are single wanting to be married, we are married wanting to be single, we want babies, want them to get old enough to feed themselves, old enough to go to school, you go to all the ball games, take pictures of Prom dates, want them to old enough to be trusted behind the wheel of the car alone. What is the latest fad in Christmas toys, is it Transformers? Batman or Superman suits? Best friends, heart breaks, car wrecks, and then, suddenly, one is married with two children of her own; the other is a man, “full growed”, married two years, with his own Chiropractic Clinic, a Doctor! Wow, what a ride!

I used to tell my children that life is like a Ferris Wheel at the Fair. There are people getting on and off all the time. While it is stopped letting some people off and others on, there are other people way up at the top just swinging and looking around, same swinging on the sides and all around except at that one point of entry/exit. While there are babies being born there are people dying. People that are young just waiting for their chance to conquer life, middle aged people who are working and raising children, and then the group that have retired and don’t find much to do that will make their day interesting…just waiting to get off the ride. We all get on and then comes the time to exit. Find someone that needs a little encouragement and a way to brighten their day. Remember that one day, if the Lord has not yet appeared with His angels in the sky, that we are all going to be in that same place, how do you want to be treated? Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Luke 6:31 God gave His Son for us, He gives us angels to watch over us, and in return we give him wavering faith and partial service. Let us remember how much He has done for us when we were all still in sin or babies in the faith and render praise and worship to Him daily!

“Yesterday’s gone and tomorrow never comes, what will you do, my friend, with your today?” Whatever stage of life you are in, take time to enjoy the ride, before long you will look around and say, “yesterday came suddenly”, and yes it did! You are blessed; pray, look around to see where you are on Life’s Ferris Wheel ride!

2 Replies to “Yesterday came suddenly”

  1. Harolene, my fellow Word Bird. I used to say when my favorite little people had pulled away with my heart after their weekend visits, I would sit down to journal, typing, “the silence is deafening” the favorite little people have grown into the Fabulous Five and it’s been a month since I’ve seen them. My heart hurts, but is not destroyed so I am grateful it still works. Maybe I will get to squeeze a baby in Activation Church’s nursery. I hope to finish moving from the condo into the apartment. A Godly couple from church brought us dinner tonight. My roommate had surgery on her foot. She’s doing well.

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