Bring It Back!

Day 7 Doxology: For those of you that know me, know that I have an "old soul" that I am rather proud of.  It probably started when I would spend as much of my summer months that I could with my grandparents before football practice began. We would hunt, fish, swim, work, and mostly work.  I remember thinking how much I hated working in the garden, or picking apples and plumbs for pop paw's homemade wine and preserves.  Also, there were statements that I can never un-hear from my grandfather that still amaze and teach me even today.

One day I watched my grandfather get rough with an old mule.  I couldn't believe that I witnessed this side of such a nurturing man.  When I questioned if he had to be so rough....he said, "Any thing with a head and a butt could be taught something; sometimes you might have to start at the butt to get to the head."  I realized later he was from a different time.

There were statements that thrilled me to the bone at least at first.  I had been reading some old Fox Fire books after I heard stories that my dad had built a log cabin when he was young.  So, I asked pop paw, "How do you build a log cabin?"  I can remember him saying without hesitation, "Come on I'll show you!"  We grab and axe and went to the woods.  After we built the first coarse of logs for our walls with only an ax, we paused to get a drink, and I was ready for the illustration to be over.  He then said, that's how your dad did it, but we don't have to.  Then he cranked his chainsaw and we finished what we had started.

So you see I have an affinity for those that I can learn from like our church seniors.  We have a group that attend a senior lunch the first Wednesday of each month.  The food is great; the company is better!  They offer a devotion then pray for those that couldn't make it before they eat together.  I love listening to how their life was a contradiction -simpler but harder!  What I find attractive is they speak of it like it was truly golden years.

Today we've lost something with all the calendars, appointments, technology, and drive thru's.  We can reach anyone at most any moment of the day yet we suffer from loneliness more than ever.  How long has it been since you built something with your hands?  How long has it been since you physically dialed a phone number or hand-made a meal and carried to a neighbor?

Today's doxology is this group of seniors.  Not "seniors" by age but by the shadow they cast over the rest of us.  This group meet each month to give me what my grandparents can no longer give -connection, love, and belonging to a time that seems lost.  How can we bring it back if not for ourselves but for others?