In My Father's Shadow

Baby pictures!  The firstborn in a family always has far more pictures taken of him or her than the subsequent children... or so I thought. 

Secondly, I thought my parents didn't take many pictures of my brother and I as we were growing up.  To my recollection, it didn't seem important to my parents to take pictures of us.  The camera they had was old and unreliable, and I didn't think they took the trouble of trying to use it.  How wrong I was! 

On these cold days of winter, I have been reviewing and organizing the family archives ( old photos and letters).  I made a wonderful discovery in the process.  I found out that the two statements which I made above were just not true!  I discovered lots of pictures taken of myself (the second born) as well as my brother as we were growing up.

I found an old photo album- you know- the kind your grandmother had which had black pages between stiff covers held together with a string, the photos in it secured with corner tabs, and the labeling done in white ink.  I don't remember ever having seen this album before.  However, there it was, year after year, a picture of my brother on his birthday on April 3 with a cold, barren landscape behind him and then a picture of me taken on my birthday the next month in May with the evidence of trees budding out behind me.  And there below each photo was my mother's writing putting down the date.  My mother was meticulous her whole life when it came to labeling photos.  She kept a diary and must have referred to it to accurately date photos.  At any rate, there were the pictures of my brother and I carefully labeled.  Always the date.  Always our age.  The pictures were always taken on our respective birthdays, never taken a day early or a day late.

My mother documented the dates of the pictures, but it was obvious that it was my dad who took the photos.  Back before flash cameras, pictures were taken outdoors in the sunlight.  Frequently, as in the photo of me above on my 8th birthday, my dad's shadow could be seen.

Whereas some people grow up without having good fathers to nurture them, I am convinced I had the best father ever!  After seeing my dad's shadow so often in my birthday photos, I've been thinking about what it was like to grow up in his shadow. There were several 'bike' picutres in the photo album on my 8th birthday; apparently my dad was especially pleased with the new bike he had given me.  Our family didn't have much money, so that new bike was an extravagant example of my dad's provision for his litlle girl who was growing up before his eyes. 

In the shadow of my father!  What did my father provide for me over the years?  He gave me the freedom and safety to roam with delight over the farm fields, splashing through the creek bed and exploring the woods. He gave his time at the end of each exhausting day to read books to me, even way past the time I could read for myself.  He piled up mounds of sweet smelling hay on the barn floor for me to jump down into.  He gave me dairy cattle to train and the supporting opportunity to show them at the county and state fair.  He gave me chickens to tend so I could earn spending money.  He taught me how to use machinery and tools- things like an ax with which I chopped down trees, hammer and nails to build things, the use of  a wide brush to paint buildings, and the tractor to drive for doing field work.  He taught me the value of honest labor as I helped him in the summer to bring in the hay and cultivate the corn, and to fork over the beans plants to dry in the fall.  He moved and renovated an old shed to be my 'clubhouse', he bought me my own horse to ride, and he bought my brother and I a pool table and ping pong table in our teen years to enjoy with friends.  In college, he let me borrow the family car (our only car) for a week to drive east to hike the Appalachian trail with some friends.  My father gave me an example of how neighbors are to help one another, of always believing the best in another person, and of going to church regularly to sing God's praises with zest.

I had it very good as I grew up because I was abiding in the shadow of a father who loved me and provided for me. My father gave me an example of what God is like.  The way my dad lived his life helps me to understand the following truths from the Bible-

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the LORD, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'  Psalm 91:1 

Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give hims a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent"  If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will you Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!   Matthew 7:9-11

I have to admit that age is creeping up on me.  I can't run, and I don't chop down trees anymore.  I don't have the same sense of well being I used to have to be out on snowy roads in the winter or while driving at night.  I don't feel safe to wander fields and woodlands alone.  It's not that I'm in my second childhood and completely helpless yet.  However, as an older person, I know I am more vulnerable and I need to be in the shadow of someone who is stronger and wiser than me.  Who will that be?  Almighty God!  I need to keep abiding in the shadow of my Heavenly Father just as I was in the shadow of my father on my 8th birthday.  God has promised to give me good gifts, just like my dad did, if I ask God to be my provision and my protector.  Jesus promised me that.

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

Once a week I grab up my guitar and head for the local nursing home to sing the old songs the folks love so well.  Songs like: Billy Boy, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, and She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain. 

 The folks like all the old familiar songs, but Let Me Call You Sweetheart is the song that brings the greatest response. A dreamy look comes over each person's face along with a big smile. The song seems to bring back to everyone the memory of a certain special someone from the past. Faces that are droopy and not responsive to much around them become lively, and eyes twinkle.  If you sit down with the nursing home folks, right then, and ask them "Tell me how you met your sweetheart", years fade away as people begin to tell of long ago when the felt their first bloom of love.   

It seems impossible to believe that the residents of a nursing home ever experienced intense passion, the same kind of intense, hormonal feelings which young people are dealing with in this day and age.  However, we know that the emotions of young men and young women were just as powerful in the past.  Watching the faces and listening to the old folks relating their stories of how they first fell in love proves that!  I recently came across the photo up above for the first time.  It's my mother-in-law and father-in-law in the early 1930's as they were dating. The look they are sharing and their nearness to one another speaks volumes.

Falling in love is a robust and profound mystery.  The Bible puts it this way:
There are three things which are too wonderful for me; yes, four which I do not understand:  The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid.  Proverbs 30:18,19

For this reason, I need to remember to pray for the young adults that I know- that they would be wise in who they date and that they would honor Jesus Christ with their bodies, to be chaste, until the day they wed.  I need to remember that when I pray for my young grandchildren, I should also pray for the nuturing and spiritual upbringing of their future spouses. 

Since every generation experiences afresh the strong emotions of romantic love, I would encourage any of you reading this blog to pray in a similiar manner for the young people you care about.  It may be now or very soon that the ones you know will be looking into someone's eyes and saying, "Let me call you sweetheart.  I'm in love with you!  Let me hear you whisper that you love me, too!"  We all remember what it was like.   As a result, you know why it's important to pray in this regard for the future of those you love.

Finding Significance

I've always been a paper pack rat.  I've kept newsclippings, wedding invitations, post cards, notes, teaching outlines, photos, journals, and other stuff that have been meaningful to me.  Throughout the years, I've been methodical about caring for these scraps of paper, my archives of past events.  I've punched holes into the side of each document that I've found worthy of keeping and entered them into a loose leaf notebook.  Dozens of these notebooks are upstairs in a closet.  In addition to my own memorabilia, I have possession of the old diaries of my mother-in-law and of my mother.  Over the years I have been tempted to discard these archives of the past, but I haven't.  More than once I've wondered about the purpose of keeping all of this.

It is said that when a person dies, especially an older person, an entire library of knowledge is gone.  And so it is!  But until that time, each of us carries a richness of life expeiences that make us who we are.  And those experiences are often what we share with other people in conversation or in other ways.  For myself, I find writing and artwork to be an outlet for reflecting upon the experiences and truths that God has blessed me with over a lifetime.

Lately, I've been going through my archives and jotting down notes to remind me of events and people from the past and then discarding the original documents.  My notes take up a lot less room than the documents.  There is significance in each document, a meaning to why I kept the scrap of paper.  For instance, in the above picture you can see a postcard of the girl scout camp where I was a counselor, my wedding invitation, a newspaper clipping of when I worked on the high school yearbook, an e-mail from my daughter-in-law as she awaited the birth of her first child, a picture of my husband receiving his warrant officer rank, and various other items.

All of us long to find meaning to our lives.  I think that is why I have kept my own personal archives.  As I am reviewing and consolidating my scraps of papers lately, I take note of the meaning of each item. At this time in my life, I find significance in how richly God has blessed me with people I have known and insight I have gleaned from the past.  I hope that these memories will be the means by which I can bless others in my attempts to write words of spiritual encouragement.

"Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.  Full of splendor and majesty is his work."  Psalm 111:1-3 

When I review the richness of my life, look at the marvels of nature, or read of Jesus Christ in the Bible, I cannot help but recognize God's work of splendor and majesty.  There is something to be said for pausing to study God's work in our lives (even in the hard times), His work in the natural world, and His redeeming work on behalf of mankind through Jesus.  It is in recognizing God's hand in everything that we find our life's greatest meaning and significance.