It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Memaw passed away. I still remember going to her house and playing Canasta, Gin Rummy, Wahoo, dominoes – regular and chicken foot, and how she’d always have these extra rules that came into play when her score was falling behind. Her trailer would smell like mothballs that she’d throw underneath to keep the snakes away and she served sweet tea in a green ceramic pitcher.
It’s also Father’s Day this year and my dad comes to mind. He passed away in 1993, and even though it’s been almost 30 years, I still can recall time spent with him as he shoed horses or worked his little shop behind the house. To this day, the smell of Gilette shaving cream will remind me of him. My kids will never know my dad or my memaw, as they were both gone before my kids were on this earth but I share my memories and my stories with them. They can get a sense of who they were by how I remember them.
Now, I can see my kids making their own core memories with my mom. My oldest recalls when he was at Oma’s in Germany and how she had the big bathtub or when he got to water her yard or play on the back deck. Both boys talk about going to Oma’s and Opa’s house, playing with the dog or going fishing at the lake. These are the memories that they may share with their own kids someday, the relationships they had with their grandparents shown in the stories they tell.
I think it’s why we are called to have a relationship with our Creator. so we will have those experiences with Him that when shared, show how much He loves us and is present in our lives. Our Sunday school class talks about “being intentional” and I know I fail more times than I’d like at pursuing that closer relationship with God. I’m not as intentional with my time and there are sooo many distractions ready and waiting to turn my mind to anything but God. All I have to do is look at the kitchen sink or see the chickens yet again leaving porch presents and I’m off to do whatever task I see that I think needs to be done. I’m not really good at quiet time. To sit and be still takes more effort than action for other things. However, if I don’t be intentional and I don’t cultivate that close relationship with God, how will others see Him through my life? Will they see me prioritizing other stuff over getting to know Him better? Everything we have and think we are pursuing are just temporary and fleeting; will my kids remember seeing God at work in my life if I am not intentional about it?
Why, you may wonder, is this on my mind right now. Well, it’s Father’s Day and my dad has been long gone but he’s on my mind right now because I have a milestone birthday coming up quite soon. It’s a milestone that my dad never reached and it weirds me out, to be honest, to know that I will have lived longer than my dad ever did in a few weeks’ time. He died 22 days before his 40th birthday from cancer. There are slightly less than that amount of days until my 40th birthday. I have already lived longer than he had. I can’t imagine what that must have been like, to be the age I am now, knowing that I would not be seeing my kids grow up and reach their own milestones, not celebrate their achievements. I wonder what he might’ve been thinking in those last days, if he wondered if or how we’d remember him in the years to come. Then I think about my own children and how I would want to be remembered by them. Would they see Jesus at work in my life or would they see a mom who stayed busy or prioritized work more often than not? I don’t know. They do know that I love them; I am quite intentional there and tell them that frequently. In the years to come, I hope and pray that I am just as intentional about living my life for Christ in such a way that when my kids recall stories about me, they will also see God through it all along the way as well.
Going Green In Texas 