Some things I’ve learned as I get closer to 6 decades on earth….Top 5…
You only have today, right now, the present. Best to treat this time as a gift and not a curse.
Breathing is not optional but breathing fresh air and exhaling the air in a healthy manner is a choice.
Love time but limit it for seasons, family, and those friends you may not have much longer because…
80 percent of people don’t care and the other 20 percent are actively looking to spread toxins and poison into the ecosystem
If you don’t have something nice to say, at least make sure it’s true and delivered in love and empathetic tone. You never know what some one is dealing with and you may find yourself in need of a return favor. When this one seems confusing, re-read 1-4 above.
Someone Buttoned His Shirt
Kierkegaard believed there comes a place where the crowd can no longer carry your faith.
The boy did not know enough to doubt anything.
Someone combed his hair.
Someone buttoned his shirt.
Someone told him about God.
But God had already found him
on a cinder block at the old farm on Highway 97,
in a lightning storm,
before anybody thought to explain it.
Then vacation Bible school at Hopeful Baptist.
A prayer card in his hand.
The walk down front.
He signed what had already burned through him.
They wanted a record.
He gave them one.
There were churches then.
Sunday schools.
People who knew the answers.
He grew up.
Some of the answers did not.
There were years when faith came easily
because everybody around him was saying the same words.
Then came the places nobody could go with him.
Loss.
Fear.
Marriage.
Nights awake.
The long work of becoming a man
when nobody was watching.
The boy is an old photograph now.
Gray beard.
Weathered skin.
A cross against his chest.
The card is gone.
The cross came with him.
The crowd did not.
The boy is still looking straight ahead.
Boutwell Jones
redclaygospel.com
