From the desk and heart of my Grandfather
If it were possible to just pick up and go I'd live in the town of my grandfather.
I would.
Iowa did wonders for me, the perfect place for my girls and I'd be close to my grandfather again.
Although our home is here, my heart and memory wanders.
GAIN and LOSS SUMMARY
In the past few months I've known many changes:
I have lost my darling wife of 67 years;
I have lost the duplex home
Where we lived longer than anywhere else;
I have lost the lovely garden
Where we grew-from which we drew-our daily sustenance;
I have lost the family car
Which faithfully served us twenty years and now is irreparable;
I have lost the spacious "dream" apartment
To which I moved-alone;
I have lost a thousand cherished books;
I have lost hundreds of pictures, plaques, mementoes,
Certificates of honor and commendations;
I have lost the well organized files of sermon notes
From 66 years of ordained ministry.
And what have I gained?
I have gained a little one-room apartment-
Including all three meals a day,
Laundry, cleaning, even help with showers,
Which hopefully will be my "home" the rest of my life.
I have gained a new understanding
Of how little "stuff" a person really needs;
I have gained a new appreciation
Of the few pictures and mementoes
I've been able to bring with me as I moved;
I have gained (a slow process) a new dependence
On others and my God to meet the challenges of each day;
And I have gained most importantly, a deeper faith:
A more vital sense that God is truly with me moment by
Moment'
That the Lord truly loves me, and blesses me graciously,
And still works in and through me, to share God's truth
And love with my fellow human beings.
