It was a beautiful, sunny, July morning. I was sitting in the hospital, waiting for my upper GI. Waiting! Waiting, because they had inadvertently overlooked me.
This was just a few months over a year since my husband’s death. My thoughts drifted to him. I opened my purse—flipped through my wallet and began studying his picture. Suddenly, as though a light went on in my brain, I whispered to myself, “Of course!” It had clearly come to me, the answer to a question that had puzzled me for over fifty years. I grabbed my pen and began writing on a scrap of paper. For, it was important that I get my thoughts written down. “Yes, it all makes sense now!” I uttered to myself.
It was in the late 50’s, before the interstate had opened up. Our little group of six, was only one of the many cars traveling every day, back and forth from our small town, to make the fifty-mile trip to work in the city.
I sat on the back seat in the middle of two ladies. The lady to my left, an older lady, I will call Mrs. B., was a little gray headed lady. She was short, somewhat on the pudgy side, very quiet, and sweet (except that one time I remember, when she grabbed her umbrella, and gave Mr. Bill a whack over the head for driving too fast.)
Mrs. B. was always so anxious, and very willing to pull out her wallet, and show me a picture of her husband, who was stationed in another part of the country, making his career in the military. He didn’t get home much. And I would wonder, did he have another wife—or another family? Oh well. Anyway, it puzzled me.
She always showed me the same picture of that young, dark-haired, and handsome man. Dressed in his uniform—he was charming, to say the least! But she seemed so old! Gray-headed! The picture showed him so young! I wondered; doesn’t she have a more recent picture? Surely, he wasn’t that young!
Now, sitting here at the hospital, looking at my husband, I can see. It all makes sense! That was about 55 years ago!
Mrs. B. was always so anxious, and very willing to pull out her wallet, and show me a picture of her husband, who was stationed in another part of the country, making his career in the military. He didn’t get home much. And I would wonder, did he have another wife—or another family? Oh well. Anyway, it puzzled me.
She always showed me the same picture of that young, dark-haired, and handsome man. Dressed in his uniform—he was charming, to say the least! But she seemed so old! Gray-headed! The picture showed him so young! I wondered; doesn’t she have a more recent picture? Surely, he wasn’t that young!
Now, sitting here at the hospital, looking at my husband, I can see. It all makes sense! That was about 55 years ago!
This is a new time in my life. I’m gray-headed, shorter, pudgy, and my husband also is away—far away—in Heaven! So, why is it that I carry that particular picture of my husband—that favorite picture, the one he had taken when he was 35 years young? Because that’s the way I want to remember him! That was a wonderful time in our life. When he was strong. Vibrant. And full of life—and very handsome. That picture still sends chills up my spine, and stirs my soul, while I study the spark of love in his eyes from happier times.
So, I conclude, yes. Now I do understand! It’s an interesting but extremely important thing—TIME!
• • • • •
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born and a time to die… A time to weep and a time to laugh; I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
Ecclesiastes 3: 1,2a, 4a, and 17
The Lord puts us on this earth for a purpose. Our time is in His hand but it is our choice whether we will follow His will in this life and serve Him or to refuse and reject Him and serve Satan—our enemy.
We do not know the time between our birth and our death! The most critical decision we have to make is the time we choose to accept Christ as our Savior, asking forgiveness for our sins, and inviting Him into our heart—at that time, He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in our heart and soul. From that moment in time, we become His child, to serve Him until the time He calls us home.
— Just TIME.