Time

          Time - something that we all wish that we had more of ... something that passes too quickly the older we get.  If you are like me, you often reflect upon the past and wonder where all the years have gone.  I look at my boys and my grandchildren and wonder how they can really be that old.  And how can I really be this old?  My how time flies!
         William Penn is said to have remarked, "Time is what we want most, but what we use worst."  Benjamin Franklin said, " Lost time is never found again."  Then it was Dr. Seuss who remarked, "How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon.  December is here before it's June.  My goodness how the time has flewn.  How did it get so late so soon?"
        A Denis Waitley said, "Time is an equal opportunity employer.  Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day.  Rich people can't buy more hours.  Scientists can't invent new minutes.  And you can't save time to spend it another day.  Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving.  No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow."  And Tom Bennett has added, "Don't waste time in anger, regrets, worries and grudges.  Life is too short to be unhappy."
         Recently I was going through some items from by Grandpa Wolf's time as a pastor.  I came upon an old copy of "The Evangel", a monthly publication that he produced when he was pastor at the Emmanuel Bible Fellowship Church in Sunbury.  This one was dated February, 1965.  The front page included the poem "There's Time" by a Priscilla Leonard.

Life is never so short
But there's time for a song
To hearten the hours
As they hurry along:
Through the dark and the day
Its brave music can rise,
No matter how swiftly
Each winged second flies.

Life is never so short
But there's time for a deed
Of courtesy gentle
Of kindness in need:
Along the thronged highway
Where multitudes press
Each moment brings chances
To help and to bless.

Life is never so short
But there's time for a word
Of trust and of courage
Faint hearts to upgird;
Through the rush of the mart,
Through the din of the fray,
Hope finds ever its moment,
Faith conquers its way.

          So take some time in your day today to enjoy a good song, to do a good deed for somebody and to do something to encourage a "faint heart".  What a good use of our time that would be.
         A Michael Phillips has said, "The best things are never arrived at in haste.  God is not in a hurry.  His plans are never rushed."    Those thoughts remind me of one of my favorite choruses.  Meditate on these words.

1.   In His time, in His time,

He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Lord please show me every day

As You're teaching me Your way

That You do just what You say

In Your time.

2.   In Your time, in Your time,

You make all things beautiful in Your time.

Lord my life to You I bring 

May each song I have to sing

Be to you a lovely thing 

In Your time.

You can listen to this chorus here.    LISTEN

Fwd: Things Only A Mom Could Teach

          I know the official Mother's Day is now over for another year, but I thought you might enjoy some of the memories that most of us have about our mothers.  Actually, everyday should be Mother's Day so I guess this blog is still appropriate. So here are some things our mothers taught us.

*     My Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION: "Just wait until your father gets home."

*     My Mother taught me about RECEIVING:. "You are going to get it when we get home!"

*    My Mother taught me to MEET A CHALLENGE:   "What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you ... Don't talk back to me!"

*    My Mother taught me LOGIC:  "Because I said so, that's why."  and also  "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

*    My Mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE:   "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

*    My Mother taught me to THINK AHEAD:  "If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job."

*    My Mother taught me ESP:   "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you're cold?"

*    My Mother taught me HUMOR:   "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

*    My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT:   "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

*    My Mother taught me about GENETICS:    "You're just like your father."

*    My Mother taught me about my ROOTS:   "Do you think you were born in a barn?"

*    My Mother taught me about WISDOM OF AGE:   "When you get to be my age, you will understand."

*    My Mother taught me about JUSTICE:   "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you. Then you'll see what it's like."

*    My mother taught me RELIGION: "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

*    My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL:  "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

*    My mother taught me FORESIGHT:  "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

*    My mother taught me IRONY:  "Keep crying and I'll *give* you something to cry about."

*    My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS:    "Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"

*    My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM:   "Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!"

*    My mother taught me about STAMINA:  "You'll sit there until all that spinach is finished."

*    My mother taught me about WEATHER:   "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."

*    My mother taught me how to solve PHYSICS PROBLEMS:   "If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming toward you, would you listen then?"

*    My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY:  "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: Don't Exaggerate!!!"

*    My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE:   "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

*    My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION:    "Stop acting like your father!"

*    My mother taught me about ENVY:   "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"

          Thank you mother for all the valuable lessons you taught us!

My Regrets

          Mothers need to be celebrated!  So, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed May 9, 1914, as the first Mother's Day. He asked Americans on that day to give a public "thank you" to their mothers and all mothers.  However, some say that the first Mother's Day in America was actually established by Anna Jarvis and was celebrated at St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908.

         No matter when the first celebration actually was, possibly thanks to Hallmark and other card companies, it has continued and really grown in popularity.  Today thousands celebrate by sending cards or flowers, taking their mothers out to eat, visiting with them or at least calling them.

          Now I have very few regrets in life, but one is that I should have done much more for my mother, not only on Mother's Day, but throughout her life.  Now that I am older I am beginning to realize how much visits from family members really mean to an aging parent. Visits mean so much more than even gifts or going our to eat.  There is nothing better to a parent than spending time with their children. I should have done so much more when I could have.

          In our family we never really celebrated special days, except maybe Christmas.  Others have big birthday parties and special days have special elaborate celebrations.  But that isn't the way we were raised.  But I know now that tradition isn't a good excuse.

           Unfortunately, some of us learn those lessons too late in life when things can no longer be changed.  I loved my mother.  I couldn't have asked for a better one.  I miss talking to her.  I would love to be able to tell her once again that I love her.

          Fortunately, the Lord prompted all of us to visit her the night before she unexpectedly was killed in an auto accident.  That was unusual and I thank the Lord that He prompted all of us to do that.  That is a time that I will never forget and I would have felt horrible if I had been too busy to be there.

          My mother lived a very challenging life.  As a youngster she lived through the Depression and her family had very little in the way of material goods.  Then she and my father lived through World War II and the postwar era when jobs were very limited.  For years they lived without an automobile.  They always had large gardens in order to feed us. They made nine different moves until dad was finally able to get a full-time job in Lancaster where he then worked for 25 years.  All those moves must have been very hard for her.  But I never heard her complain about it.

          Those days were challenging.  I remember how excited we would be as kids when mother would have an extra quarter and allow us to purchase a bottle of soda as a treat for the family.

          My mother had the gift of hospitality and we often had visiting missionaries and students staying with us.  She was very active in serving the Lord, teaching Good News Clubs in our homes and teaching Sunday School classes.  Her love for the Lord was a major influence in my life.

          Most people don't know that in her latter years she had many difficult physical problems and despite many visits to specialists and many tests, nobody was able to diagnose her problems or give her any relief from her pain.  I hate to admit this, but at times I began to think that much of this was just in her mind.  But now I have become my mother and am having the same discouraging problems.  Oh how wrong I was to think this about her.  But maybe my family now thinks the same about me.

          Now I still miss her and wish that once again I could call or visit her.  I miss knowing that she was praying for me.  I miss knowing that she loved me and was proud of things that I was able to do.  I miss being able to share with her my joys, my fears and my sorrows.  I wish that I had been a better son.

          If your parents are still alive, please make sure that one day you don't have similar regrets.  The greatest gift that you can give them is you.  Do that now while you still can.  Those times pass too quickly.  Here today, gone tomorrow!

Tombstones

          Sometimes it can be interesting to walk through a cemetery and read the tombstones.  Growing up I lived a block away from the Moravian Cemetery in Lititz.  There I used to enjoy reading the tombstones which date back to before the Revolutionary War.  The cemetery also contains the tombstones of many of the former citizens and families that I knew growing up in Lititz. And my parents are now buried there.  
          One summer while I was in college I worked digging graves in a cemetery in Sunbury where my in-laws are now buried. There I recognized the graves of many of the former members of the church that I attended and often had heard many of the "old-timers" talk about. 
          But, I must admit that I never have come upon tombstones as crazy as these.

Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York: Born 1903-Died 1942 Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.

In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery: 

Here lies an Atheist 

All dressed up And no place to go.

In a London, England cemetery: 

Here lies Ann Mann, 

Who lived an old maid 

But died an old Mann. 

Dec.  8, 1767

In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery: 

Anna Wallace: 

The children of Israel wanted bread, 

And the Lord sent them manna. 

Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife, 

And the Devil sent him Anna.

In a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery: 

Here lies Johnny Yeast. 

Pardon me For not rising.

In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania, cemetery: 

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. 

Stepped on the gas 

Instead of the brake.

In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery: 

Here lays The Kid. 

We planted him raw. 

He was quick on the trigger 

But slow on the draw.

A lawyer's epitaph in England: 

Sir John Strange. 

Here lies an honest lawyer, 

And that is Strange.

John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne, England, cemetery: 

Reader, if cash thou art In want of any, 

Dig 6 feet deep; 

And thou wilt find a Penny.

In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England: 

On the 22nd of June, 

Jonathan Fiddle Went out of tune.

Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls,Vermont:

Here lies the body of our Anna - 

Done to death by a banana. 

It wasn't the fruit that laid her low, 

But the skin of the thing that made her go.

On a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts: 

Under the sod and under the trees, 

Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. 

He is not here, there's only the pod. 

Pease shelled out and went to God.

In a cemetery in England:

Remember man, as you walk by, 

As you are now, so once was I. 

As I am now, you soon will be. 

Prepare yourself and follow me.

To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:

To follow you I'll not consent 

Until I know which way you went

From Boot Hill, in Tombstone, Arizona: 

Here lies Lester Moore 

One slug from a 44 

No Les 

No More