December 2007

Through the Years

Sometimes the bits and pieces of everyday can surprise you with a deeper appreciation for this life God has given us.  Many of those moments have been captured in cherished family photographs.  During a recent weekend, our daughters displayed the gathered collection of family pictures on the wall going upstairs.  They filled the space.  It is quite an assortment. 
As I go up and down the stairs, those images bring to mind a flood of memories.  Four generations of life are on that wall. There is a twenty-something Rusty proudly holding the stringer of fish he has caught.  Papa Sloan, his grandfather waves as he sits atop a large white horse.  My mother clad in shorts holds me as a little baby in her arms.  In her wedding gown, daughter Mandy is smiling as her bouquet rests in her lap. Rusty’s parents have been married sixty years, but here they are when they were first dating. In one picture, at 18, Tiffany poses for the camera in her cheerleader uniform. In another, she is five years old and riding piggyback on Mandy’s ten-year-old shoulders. 
In addition to the various images, there is a collection of our family pictures from the pictorial directories where we have served in ministry. Through the years, we have selected the best picture to be printed, but you cannot fail to see the passage of time in all of us.       
There was a time, when time itself seemed to pass so slowly. In the spring, it seemed as if summer would never get here. In the summer, it seemed as if school would never start back so you could see your friends. In the fall, the ultimate description for having to wait was to depict a thing as being as “slow as Christmas.” As the years feel like they are going faster, I can better understand my mother’s advice to a nine-year-old who was so impatient to become ten. She advised me to be careful not to wish my life away. 
As I look at the lives portrayed on our picture gallery, I realize the sweetness of all of that time and memory. As we begin a new year, I am reminded that every year has twelve months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds.  Every moment of our life is a gift from God. It is a free priceless gift.  We have done nothing to earn or deserve it. It is totally up to us how we will use this gift. It is even our choice whether we wish it away or give it away,    
Let me share with you a prayer that offers guidance at the beginning of a new year. The name of the author has been lost, but the sincerity remains true.

Dear Lord,
The sun is rising on the morning of another day, the first day of the New Year.  What can I wish that this day, that this year may bring to me?
Nothing that shall make the world of others poorer, nothing at the expense of others;
But just those few things which in their coming do not stop with me but touch me rather, as they pass and gather strength. 
Please give me …
A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;
A work to do which has real value, without which the world would be the poorer;
A return for such work small enough not to unduly tax anyone who pays;
A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail be not blazed;
An understanding heart;
A sight of the eternal hills and unresting sea,  
    and of something beautiful the individual hand has made;
A sense of humor and the power to laugh;
A few moments for quiet, silent meditation;
A feeling of the presence of God;
The patience to wait for the coming of these things,
    with the wisdom to recognize them when they come.  Amen.

In this new year may the presence and love of God be made known in you and through you.

Grace and peace,
Dindy Taylor  

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