Memories

Although I don’t always attend the Burgess family reunion every year, I do think about the experiences I've had with many of those who might have been there (and those who’ve passed away).

I especially think of Daddy and Mama and the sweetness of the life we shared before his death in 1982 and hers in 2011. Although we struggled financially, we were rich in many ways. Love filled our home, our church, and our community. Family and wonderful neighbors lived nearby and always helped us, as we did them. My sister and I always felt we had TWO homes, ours and Aunt Delia and Uncle Howard’s home, which was “up the road” about a quarter of a mile from ours. On weekends, when my older brothers and sisters often brought their families, our house bulged at the seams and happy voices mingled in the air.

As I think back on those days with those dear people, I thank God for the blessing they were to me then—and now, for as the writer of Proverbs 10:7 (NIV) so rightly says, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing.”

His Life Is Love Expressed

One year as Father’s Day was approaching, I began to observe the fathers around me. I saw them coaching Little League teams. I saw them heading off to work in order to provide for their families. I saw them helping their children and/or grandchildren with all sorts of projects. I saw them caring for their parents. I saw them having dinner with their wives. I observed them bowing their heads and giving thanks for the food they and their families were preparing to eat.

            

Observing fathers as they served their families and fellow citizens in various ways brought to mind the words on this plaque one of my daughters gave her dad on Father’s Day many years ago, words descriptive of him then and now.

           

I have no idea who wrote those words, but they certainly apply to many dads. I, for one, am very grateful for those men whose lives are “love expressed.” I pray that their children will notice their dad’s quiet sacrifice and realize how blessed they are to have (or to have had) such a wonderful dad.

I’m also aware that not all dads are as described above. But the children of dads who mistreated them and/or abandoned them can also take comfort in this great truth expressed again and again in the Bible: We have a Heavenly Father who loves us far more than even the best of earthly fathers ever could.

            

David certainly found that to be true in his life. Again and again, like a wonderful father, God came to his rescue. God forgave him. God gave him extraordinary opportunities and blessings. Throughout David’s life, God talked with him and listened as David talked to Him. All that (and much more) prompted David to describe God as a “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows…” (Psalm 68:5).

            

Jesus also often reminded His followers that God was not only His Father but theirs, as well. For example, when Jesus was teaching His followers how to pray, He taught them to address God as “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9).

            

And in Luke 12, Jesus assured His followers their Father would most surely provide for them. “Don’t worry about money and possessions! Your heavenly Father already knows your needs and will give you all you need from day to day—if you make the Kingdom of God your primary focus!”

           

Not only will our Heavenly Father supply all that we need for day-to-day living, but it gives Him great happiness to do so! (See Luke 12.).

How blessed we are to have such a Father!!! And if we’ve also been gifted with an earthly father whose life is “love expressed,” well that’s, as a dear friend and neighbor of ours often said, “Doubly good. Doubly good.”

© 2012 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill. Scriptures quoted are from the New Living Translation.

Happy Heart. Happy Face

Since childhood, I’ve known the song that says, “If you’re happy and you know it then your face will surely show it.”

I was reminded of that recently when I photographed children attending an event in our community. A few were “glum chums.” Others wore bland expressions. But some had such a radiance on their sweet faces that I was immediately drawn to them. They made my job easy, for I didn’t even have to try to coax a smile out of them. All I had to do was take the picture!

Regretfully, I failed to ask permission to post their pictures here. But if I could post them, you’d immediately see the HUGE difference a genuine smile makes. The eyes light up. The face is relaxed. There’s a warmth and a gentleness on it, which is so appealing.

So, I’ll post two photos: one of my Daddy, taken many years ago; and one I took of myself recently while seated near a window in our dining room. Like Daddy, I have a perpetual smile. Like him, I have a glad heart, even when life isn’t one big happy, happy. And, as the song says, the inner happiness (and joy, gladness, cheerfulness) shows up on the face.

A glad heart makes a cheerful face….

~Proverbs 15:13, ESV

Remembering the Righteous

My heart was especially heavy one morning in mid-February because I was missing Mama and Daddy so much. Daddy had died first (March 6th) and Mama almost 29 years later on January 9th. So each year during the weeks surrounding the anniversary dates of their deaths, I feel so sad as I recall what happened around their deaths, how much I miss them, and how "orphaned" I often feel although many years have gone by since they passed away.

Thus, I was very comforted by a verse I read that particular morning: "The memory of the righteous is a blessing" (Proverbs 10:7, ESV). How true!

As I continue to think about my wonderful parents (and other dear ones who have departed this life), I realize anew how blessed I was—and am—for their influence upon my life. Goodness gracious! Even one-line descriptions of those blessings would fill several notebooks. And, as the verse says, even the memory itself is a blessing!

Therefore, I pause often to thank God for these special people, and hope that you, Dear Reader, pause to thank Him for yours.