Reading Obituaries

I read an article last month about why Christians should clip obituaries. Occasionally various family members have accused me of passing strangeness for my obituary reading, so I felt vindicated by the article. 

Reading obituaries is a shocking reminder that we can not always predict the time of our death.  Even those of us in seemingly good health, those at the peak of success in our careers, those just starting out in life, those going about God's work in the world - all of us are absolutely sure of only one thing - we don't know when our earthly lives will end.

Now Christians should already know this shouldn't we?  We've read it in many verses of Scripture.  And yet Christians are just as shocked and incredulous when we read the accounts of lives ended too soon.

Then last week a friend from Church died "unexpectedly".  He was only 58 years old, but that's not old, is it? It sure doesn't sound old to this 62 year old! So it was a shock and it took several days to process the news and to accept the finality of his death, except . . .

as Christians we don't accept the finality of death.  We know that death is just a passage from this earthly life that is finite to our life with God that is eternal. 

And so, the reason we should keep reading those obituaries is to remind us to number our days, to not take life or any moment of it for granted, and of course to make every moment count - not so our obituary will be a glowing account of our earthly life, but so that we will know the peace and joy of living with and worshipping our God for eternity.

Memories

That familiar smell just outside my back porch this time of year comes from the gardenia bush planted there.  It's a giant shrub now but it was once a small plant that required lots of TLC in the winter and also in the summer. (I thought the white flies would be the death of my beloved gardenias.)

Now it is huge and covered with flowers from whence comes that glorious smell that takes me back to my Granny Nicholson's porch in South Carolina, and that is a place I love to revisit in my mind.

I can't say that the distinctive smell of this flower always brings with it lots of different memories of my Grandmother or her house in Mullins, SC or the family times we spent there.  On the other hand, I cannot smell the gardenia without thinking of that particular porch.

The gardenia - both shrub and flower - is a touchstone for me.  In NLP [Neuro-Linguistic Programming] it might be called an "anchor" - something that triggers a memory every time it is experienced.  Like hearing an old song and remembering where you were and who you were with and how you felt the first time you heard it.

The blooms this year are just about spent - only a few remain.  Then I'll have to wait until next June to enjoy that lovely fragrance again. I sure wish my gardenia could bloom all year long.

A New Journey Begins

I've been waiting for this time for a while now.  And finally it has arrived. R-E-T-I-R-E-M-E-N-T!!  Ah, the word is music to my ears.  I actually have to work 6 more weeks or so, but I am already giddy with anticipation.

I know some people who can't imagine ever retiring.  They love their jobs, or they can't afford to retire or they have become accostumed to a standard of living they are not willing to give up.  But for me my job was rarely ever a source of satisfaction and it certainly never defined me.  It wasn't a career, it was just a job.

My job isn't awful, but there have been some awful moments in the past 13 years. Why did I stay in that job? Fear, inertia?  I'm not sure.  Instead of quitting, I tried to figure out how I could make my job something that I could be proud of; something that would be pleasing to God.  I've found in other circumstances that every situation I'm in - whether positive or not - is a learning experience.  I frequently asked myself what God was trying to teach me in my current situation.  So, I've spent a lot of time reading about and thinking about "faith and the workplace", about working on my servant spirit toward my colleagues and trying to see some of the difficult people I worked with through God's eyes. 

I'm not boasting, because I was rarely successful, and I certainly did not always "love" my co-workers; but I did gain insights into my own relationship with God over the years. I wanted to witness to the people I came into contact with - if not in words then in my attitude and  my deeds.

I'm probably retiring before I've done all that God wanted me to do in my workplace, but I choose to believe that God has big plans for me in the next phase of my life - starting July 1st!! :)

A Guilt Trip

This morning, instead of going to church, I stayed home.  I was listening, am still listening to Christian music - does that count?  I am feeling guilty, but not about not going to church. I'm feeling guilty about the fact that yesterday we bought a BIG flat screen TV! I didn't actually want one but my DH did very much want one.  He's been talking about it for months, had some money saved up and finally wore me down. To be honest, he rarely wants anything for himself so it's hard to say no when he does.  The only other material thing that he has wanted in the 32 years we've been married was a boat - but that's a story for another day.
So I went with him to Costco and even though I had talked him into getting a 47" TV instead of the 55" that he wanted, I convinced him to go ahead and get the 55". It didn't look that big in the store, but as I think about it, Costco is a pretty big warehouse! Our den, however, isn't quite that large so this sucker pretty much dominates this room. I know lots of people who have big screen TVs.  I guess after a while you get used to the presence of a monstrosity like this. But I wonder how long it will take me before I can look at it and not feel like I need to ask God to forgive us!