Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom

As I was walking this morning, I thought about conversations had with family members from years past.   In recollecting these conversations I thought, what would I most associate with this person and remember as a lasting memory.

The first person I thought of was my dad.  Dad didn’t say much but when asked he gave an honest answer.

I remember being at a craft fair with my parents and deciding to buy a slate shingle that was hand painted for hanging by your front door.   The artist would paint a scene and add the words you wanted, such as “Bless this House”.  After choosing the scene I liked the best, which was a red barn that reminded me of times on my grandparents farm, I had to choose the words to add.  Back in those days “Bless this House” was a familiar phrase on signs inside out outside the house.  I asked my dad if I should choose, “Bless this House” or “Bless this Home”.  My dad replied, “A house is just a structure, but a home is the people inside who live there.”   So, of course my sign reads, “Bless this Home.”  He was right.  I moved from the house where I originally hung the slate, but I took the slate with me, to bless not my new house, but the home we would create inside of it.

The next person I thought about was my brother.  What words did I remember from him?

I remembered when I was 27 years old and had been married to my husband for 5 years.  I was at my brother’s house, and he asked, “When are you going to have kids?”   I said, “When the time is right.”  He replied, “There is no right time. If you wait for the right time, it will never come.”  My husband and I just looked at each other.  We had both completed graduate school and were working, and of course other relatives had been asking my mom why we didn’t have any kids yet.   A year later I gave birth to my first daughter, followed a few years later by another daughter and a son.  It may not have seemed like the right time, but it was the perfect time.

The last person I thought of was my mother.  What lasting words had she said to me many years ago?  Well, this one is rather funny.  I always had a hard time finding shoes in my size because I have narrow feet.  One day I found a cute pair of summer sandals.  I was so excited I showed them to my mom and dad, and I was talking and talking about them, just gushing about how cute and comfortable they were, when my mother said, “Well, now you can get on with your life!”

I was stunned.  Clearly, I’d talked too much about my shoes!

And then my dad laughed.  And I laughed and mom laughed too!

And to this day her comment is shared with family members as a joke when they need to move on.

But I also practice a little more humility because I remember how taken aback I was when mom said this to me. If was as if she didn’t want to listen to me.

So, when my son comes to share his latest purchase with me, shoes, headphones, video games, or whatever, I just listen and confirm how cool the item is, because I remember in my mother’s comment detecting a hint of annoyance and that’s not something I would want my son to feel when he is sharing about his good shopping deals.

Still there is a place for my mother’s comment.  “Now you can get on with your life.”

When I’m feeling self- pity and after a while, I suck it up, I can tell myself, “Now you can get on with your life.”  Move past that episode.  Let bygones be bygones.  Leave the past in the past. Don’t dwell on the negative.  Don’t try to change what can’t be changed. Accept the situation, learn from it, and move on.

For each piece of advice, I saw that I had applied it and learned from it and it shaped me as a person and my purpose in life.

“A house is just a structure, but a home is the people inside who live there.”

Dad made me see that it was up to me to create a home where there was love, acceptance, and opportunity for growth in self, and relationship with others and to pray God’s blessing for my family.

 “There is no right time to have children. If you wait for the right time, it will never come.”

My brother made me see that putting something off for what you feel is the “right time” may result in never having the opportunity.   If I had continued to put myself first, I wouldn’t have had my three beautiful children.

And lastly good old mom’s comment; “Now you can get on with your life!”

These words really are words to live by, aren’t they for every phase of our lives.

When you get married, “You can get on with your life.”  Sharing that bond with a spouse, the connection that comes from the commitment to stay together no matter what through the good times and the not so good times.  The strength you draw from each other when you know that person has chosen to be with you for a lifetime though thick and thin and you have taken vows in the eyes of God to be one in unity with each other as you walk through life.

Then perhaps you get an education and then “You can get on with your life.”  Through a job that will show you your purpose in life not just for yourself but in your relationship with others and outcomes which better your family, community and even the world.

Every decision you make is a chance to move forward and in moving forward you “get on with your life!”

But the biggest decision is not in living for yourself but in seeing you were made for something more.  You were made for a purpose beyond that of raising a family or holding down a job.

The purpose of your being is that having been created by God you were also created for God.

So, your true purpose first, is to glorify God and second, to do good works according to the purpose to which God has called you.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10.

This verse clearly teaches that you are not an accident—God created you on purpose for a purpose.

So, find out what that purpose is by asking God and then you can “Get on with your new life!”

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 

2 Corinthians 5:17