And You Did Too

What did you want to be when you grew up?

The questionnaire asks. This is to help us as 'friends' get to know one another better. Originally I had answered. 'Divinely good.' or some such answer. However....

My son-- the scrappy one--sent back his questionnaire, and it read: Cowboy--and you did too, Mom!

How could I have forgotten! Yes, I did. When I was a little girl, that's exactly what I wanted to be, not a 'cow girl', mind you, but definitely a cowboy. Bless you, son! I wanted to ride the range on my horse, and enjoy the freedom of camping under the stars. No worries, no cares, only lions, tigers, and bears.

Dreams. They don't care about the impossibilities of reality. Some one once said, "say not that dreams are fragile things; what else of life endures". We grow up, shoulder responsibilities, and somewhere along the line our 'dreams' slip away. Maybe into the back of our mind, but definitely somewhere buried beneath...

"When I grow up and get big, I'm gonna..." my kids play a game. When I try to join in there is a hue and cry--"You can't play, you're already grown up!"

What party poopers! Growing up doesn't mean you can't have dreams--hopes. How about, 'when I retire, I'm gonna...'.

Somedays I'd gladly exchange the 'cares' of today if I only had to fight lions, tigers, and bears! There are more days than I want to count, when if I had any money (or when I get some money) everyone on the planet wants 'their share'-- and they wanted it yesterday.

"Once upon a time there was a tavern", the song begins, "where we used to raise a glass or two..." it ends with "Oh, my friends we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same.

I make the transition from the rough gravel to the smooth pavement. I flip the control from 'air conditioning' to the warm setting-- it's chilly this morning. How did that fly happen to hitch a ride to town this morning? A brief touch on the 'auto' button, and that fly's ride is ended, he can stop and visit the neighbor down the road. Just as neatly...the window slides back up.

"If you had to give up 'modern conveniences' what would you miss most?" My friend and I are talking.

"I think it would be electricity. I would miss my freezer." I'm thinking about how much I would have to 'can' without it.

How far our technology has brought us. Thinking about how long it would take to get town and back by horse and wagon...I can be to town, go to the bank, get groceries, be home in an hour...and it's a good ten miles one way to any town from the 'middle of nowhere', where we live. By horse and wagon? It would be a day's ordeal, leaving early, driving how many hours, shopping and driving home. Work? We aren't wildly excited about 'butchering' . We used to process all of our 100 chickens at home, as well as our pork, and it is a job. But we 'froze' all of the meat, canning it on top of the processing is unthinkable.

Yes, we have come a long way, but...ironically...human beings for all of their modern conveniences, for all of their technology...in our hearts we're still the same.

No matter how you change the styles, shapes, colors, sizes, no matter where on earth humans may live, or what culture they live in...in our hearts we're all the same. There is still love, hate, jealousy, good, bad, courage and fear. The whole gamut of humanity. We may think we have become better than 'our fathers', or our ancestors, but no matter how much more we may bathe the out side of the 'dish' the inside is still the same: in need of a saviour. No matter how nice our homes, our cars, or our clothes, the inside is still the same. We all need love, joy, hope...and forgiveness.
Matthew 5:14&15 Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15) Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house.

Gracious Spirit dwell with me;
I myself would gracious be,
And with words that help and heal
Would thy life in mine reveal,
And with actions bold and meek
Would for Christ my Saviour speak.
Charles H. Spurgeon

Philippians 2:15&16 "that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, 16) holding forth the word of life; that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain."

That I did not run in vain....Neither labor ...in vain! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! What a Savior!