Time is Not the Enemy

This picture was taken on July 20, 2019.  My dad loved buffet's.  This was at the Great Wall in Park West Plaza.  Our family tried to get together at least once a week for as long as I can remember.  It got harder as illness and disease set in for my mom and dad as they got older but we still tried.  We didn't necessarily spend a long time there but every week for an hour or two our family caught up on each other's lives and tried our best to enjoy time together.  In today's society family's spend so little time actually together.  When I was growing up we were more involved with each other as a family unit.  I personally feel sorry for the youth of today who will never know what it is like to sit on the porch and listen to old timers telling stories of days gone by.  It was so much more interesting that anything you could see in a video game or on television.  I also feel sorry for those that are addicted to computers, cellphones and video games.  They are so into being on their social media accounts that they have no time for the here and the now.  They don't know what is happening right around them.  They are missing out on the precious moments in life that will never come again.  If they can not see what is in front of them, then how can see the face of God or hear His word.  

I miss the days of going to family's homes and visiting.  I miss the days of playing bad mitten or horse shoe's.  I miss the days of going to the park or of getting together with family for watermelon and conversation.  Today's youth have no idea what that is.  Family's don't get together anymore.  They have no time for such things as they have to work long hours to pay for material things in this world of greed and selfishness.  I know it's a year of Covid and people are scared of it.  Each has a right in their own to feel how they feel about it.  No one should chastise anyone for wearing a mask or for not wearing a mask.  None of us knows what the reasoning the other has.  It's not ours to judge.  The person wearing the mask may have severe lung issues that should they get a cold or pneumonia its all over for them.  The person not wearing a mask may be suffering from post traumatic distress.  Even if the person is just being a butt in your opinion why make such a fuss?  Does the Father not watch out for us all?  Now, I know in saying this I'm going to get flack from the large group of people out there that are going to sight law and governors mandates and hatred for masks and everything else.  First off, it's not a law.  There is no LAW that states you have to wear a mask.  Can they make your life miserable yes.  Do most people go along with either because they agree with it or they don't want to rock the boat.  Yes.  Are there meme's on both sides of it I find funny.... well yes.  You either laugh in life or cry and I choose to laugh.  If you don't want to wear a mask... don't, but remember a business has the right to ask you to leave.  That is their right as a business.  You can put it on or you can leave, unless you have a health concern and even then the business may ask you to leave.  If you are wearing one and see someone without one, it's not hurting you. That is unless you go over and get up in their face.  Just stay six feet away from them and mind your own business and go on with your life.  How hard is that?  If you don't own the business or work for it you have no foot in the race.  If that still upsets you then leave yourself.  No one is making you shop in that store at that time.  My dad was deathly afraid of germs.  He lived 

with O.C.D. (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) his entire life.  I don't know that he would have been able to get through the last few months of his life if he had not found salvation.  God got him through it.  His only true fears were for my mother.  He was so devoted to taking care of her.  I think for him that was the hardest part of being sick.  My parents love and loved all their family.  There is nothing they would not have done for any of them and if they could be there for their family they would.  I was saddened by how few people paid their respect at the death of my dad.  Most people assume that Facebook postings are enough these days. I understand his funeral was on a week day and I understand there is Covid, but it was my actual reaction to it.  There are people who didn't come with legitimate reasons and those I understand, but there are those that used Covid as an excuse and go anywhere they want.  My dad is at peace though and those that loved him spent time talking to him on the phone or came to see him when they could.  My cousin Doyle is resting in peace too, but he never missed an opportunity to come see my parents when he's in town.  I've known family members who didn't bother being only five minutes away.  Do I think it's because they don't love my mom and dad or me?  No, it's just their lives are too busy and they always think there will be a tomorrow.  Tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.  So many lives I've known burnt out in 2019 and 2020.  My mother is still here physically and sometimes mentally but she won't be here with us long either.  I know men who claim to be men of God who put their neighbors and their congregations before their family and believe this is what God has asked them to do.  You can not do one or the other. God would want you to do both.  Be there for both.   It is sad that such men proclaim to be of faith yet will not cross the street to help their own.  It's no wonder that depression and suicide are so high as people put more value into their material objects than they do living the life God gave them. 

My grandmother Lula's favorite song was "Give me the Roses".  It talks about how one should treasure times together while a person is alive and not profess love only when they are gone with flowers.  I have no doubt that Jesus weeps daily as he watches down on the world and the people turn their backs on the glories of a rich life he would have them live.  Not of wealth but of peace and love.  The sins of this world are not born of the Father, but are born out of the hearts of men.  I am grateful for  the couple of months God gave me and my dad.  They were hard months.  They were a lot of work and some of it was very hard to watch, but God gave my dad and I that time I believe as a gift to his children.  He gave dad and I time to heal old wounds and to find that parent child love that had been strained.  It took me a while to really cry more than a little at a time.  That hard cry took a bit, but it did come.  Through all of this though God has embraced me in his arms and helped me through.  God also gave me a husband to lean on and a brother of pure gold.  I pray daily for my brother for taking care of my mom daily is no easy feet. I also pray for all of you reading this.  My soul  

has had so much more peace since I found the Lord and accepted him as my savior.  God is good.  My year has humbled me in so many ways, but through it all He has never left me.  In my heart He reminds me all the time that He is here with me.  I needed to be humbled.  I needed to remember where I came from and what was important.  The Devil will tempt you constantly with doing the wrong thing.  The funny thing is it never brings you satisfaction when you do the wrong thing.  I'm not saying I'm perfect.  I still sin daily and I still have to work at it.  I don't go see my mom as much as I should.  I know that, but it's hard to see her the way she is.  One never knows if she will be there to truly be with you or not.  I pray for her.  It has to be hard to always be afraid and her disease has gotten to that place where she's always in fear of something.

Father, I thank you for Sarah, Chris, Gwen, Daphne, Mitch, Jeannette, Larry, Ashley, Dakota, Ritchie, Aunt Jib and all my other family members.  I thank you for my love Jacob and my pets Bear, Prancer and Tobi.  I thank you for providing a roof above my head and food for my tummy.  I thank you for helping me to find more peace and to know that anger is never the way.  I thank you for giving me the strength to work on myself daily and to get rid of the flaws I have as many as I can.  Lord I would ask that you be with those out there that are lost and do not know you.  I would ask that you help them to see the way and seek the path.  I would ask that you be with the sick and you help to give them and their family's peace and strength.  I also want to thank you for the job that I will start on January 4th.  It will be good to go back to work Lord.  Keep me with you Lord and live within my heart.  I pray this in the name of your precious son Jesus Christ.  Amen.

May God be with you and bless you and your families.  Enjoy time with them while you can.  Be with them.  Forgive them and understand they are human.  

xoxo