I remember: A special saying

By Doris Schroeder

There was a time when everyone’s wish was “to be younger.” We thought if we were younger we would have more energy to accomplish our dream or to make things happen.  Sometimes I wonder about all the time we wasted when we were young and weren’t quite in realization of what was really important in life.

I came across a special saying the other day that went like this “No wise man ever wished to be young!” As I now can truthfully say I am part of the older generation, I can certainly relate to that. When we were young, we did waste some time doing things that weren’t actually essential to the “good” life. I can remember actually feeling sorry for people in the golden age because they walked with a slower step and talked with a slower vocabulary. Now, I know different.

As our bones begin to ache now and then, we do find ourselves sitting a little longer, trying to recall things a little harder, as well as searching for the names of people we know. Along with all of that, however, comes a real joy and contentment with the life we now have. We now know we will never be perfect or even give the illusion we are. We are happy to do our best to use the little bit of energy we still have.

If that is a touch of wisdom…I hope it is…I know with certainty it was not brought on by material things. It has only come about by trusting in the God that created me and you. It is His plan that if we follow brings us happiness. I think I have become more aware of this in the last six weeks or so.

It started when my only sister, Carol Jean, seemed to have some health problems that wouldn’t go away, even though she had different doctors. Finally, they scheduled an operation, it lasted four hours, and they found she had a lot of cancer. When the doctor told us, there seemed to be little hope.

In time, they said she couldn’t go back to her Wichita apartment but would need full time care. The doctor had her family: John and me and our daughter Judy, meet with them and we decided to try to get her in the Good Samaritan Center here in Hutch. We were glad they accepted us and we were able to get her settled in.  Now she is having hospice care and is under a lot of medication. She didn’t want to go through chemo treatments so is being kept as comfortable as possible. I try to stop by each day and we reminisce of the old days.

At first, I cried at the slightest provocation but as I have written about it, I feel I can give her over to God, and He will work it out according to his will. She has accepted Him into her life and knows for a fact. she will go to heaven. I know now that is God’s plan for her and I can live with that. Now when I stop by each day, we enjoy recalling some of the old days. In the meantime, He gives us happy little experiences along the way that help us to feel His love through the people around us.

One day when we had been to see her in Wichita, we stopped at our favorite restaurant for lunch. As we were leaving, the waitress told us the couple at the other table had taken care of our bill. Another way of God showing us His love.

One day as John and I had gone to her Wichita apartment to get some things, we had to carry them down three flights of stairs and our old bones were complaining. Suddenly two younger men named Bill and Jock showed up and offered to help. It turns out they were both “born again Christians” and sent from God to help us and we had such a delightful visit about the Lord with them, our tiredness disappeared!  By the time we left, our aching bones  had all melted away… well, almost.

It does seem that as the years come on, God even spends a little more time helping us and even makes things work out to the good. Just think, if everyone in our country had Jesus in their whole life, we wouldn’t have anything to complain about, even about our aching old bones

Think about it and have a good day!

Doris welcomes your comments and can be reached at [email protected]