Take joy
in everything
I am 77 and like anyone lucky enough to get into their eighth decade, I show my age. Buildings crumble, athletes stumble, writers fergit how to spel, and doctors recommend we no longer buy green bananas or suits with two pair of pants. Doctors also teach us things we wish we did not have to know: prostates, kidney, a-fib, gall bladder, tests, pills, etc.
Still, there is much to be thankful about, many happy days from yesterday and from the middle of the last century; good friends from high school and college days of the '50s. We married, worked and had children through the 1960s and 1970s, so we don't remember much except family.
We were definitely there but not involved in the turmoil, drugs, assassinations, the beginning of the end of harsh segregation; seven children did focus the mind and activities; all "the kids" (ages mid-40s to mid-50s) doing well with spouses and children, in spite of everything we did to them. The family love and involvement is still alive after 55 years. We have new friends and worthy activities. We put away childish things one by one, reluctantly. We pick up the new.
Marlene loves painting and is a talented artist, winning local awards and serving the Ozark Pastel Society as president. She especially loves landscapes, often featuring dilapidated old buildings, which take on their own character in her paintings.
She looks for them as we travel interstates and rural narrow roads. I stop as close as possible; she photographs scenes for future paintings. Amazing what one can capture in a once productive barn now leaning with aging boards, cracks and gaps. We find creeks, hills and hollers with interesting features. She puts them together to tell her own story, capture her own memories. Love those paintings.
As C.S. Lewis said "Reality is something you could not have guessed." That phrase fits, although Lewis was talking about religious beliefs: "I believe in Christ because reality is usually something you could not have guessed." A good painting evokes a similar wondrous sense; it is a matter of discovering what is next to Godliness. I could not have guessed.
Lord, please help me slow down, hear and help people in need, acknowledge friends, always take time to see beauty in the world and read a good book. Pray that we continue involvement in the special life events of loved ones. Help us remember to take joy in what whatever we do, and keep a positive attitude. Pray with Pope Francis as he remembers Christmas is about the love of God, hope and peace. The pope's teachings and homilies have a joyful, merciful and familiar prose style.
In our dotage, we have time to take stock, revisit and remember each lesson we have learned, including the perfect martini: a good gin and just a whisper of vermouth. Dad literally poured the gin gently, picked up the glass, whispered "vermouth" and treasured the first sip. The best drink to end any day. Werner Dannhauser called it "the solitary martini," prepared with loving care, slowly enjoyed to melt time so we are all young again, alive with hope, thinking of God and the eternal issues.
A healthy new year to all!
Tom Murray
Bella Vista
Editorial on 01/14/2015