Is there, or was there ever, a person in your life whose presence thrilled your very being? In my life, to now, there have only been a handful. Near or at the top of my list was my great-aunt Lidia (pronounced “Liddy”) Mincey.
When I was a pre-teen Aunt Lidia would come to our house for visits. Her visits were always surprises, for she never announced her coming. She just appeared. There were times when I would come home from school and there she’d be. No matter what might have happened during the day that was disappointing, all was erased by Aunt Lidia’s presence.
One of the best things about having Aunt Lidia visit was bedtime. In those pre-teen years Aunt Lidia and I shared a bed. We’d lie awake, and Aunt Lidia would tell me stories, very quietly, so Dad wouldn’t be disturbed and make us hush. Sometimes the stories were so funny we’d giggle and give ourselves away, and Dad would yell from the other room for us to “dry that up” and go to sleep.
I have never been a morning person, even as a child. Mother would call for me to get up and get ready for school. I’d moan and groan, and grumble. Aunt Lidia would always say, “Yeah, honey, get up and go get a good education. Education’s the only thing you can get that another man can’t take away from you.”
I took Aunt Lidia’s advice, and education has served me well. One of my greatest compliments came from Aunt Lidia. She visited us once when I was playing school. She laid down on the bed and listened to me. In a few minutes she got up and said, “Young’un, you’ve got enough sense to teach school right now.”
When I was young, I took whatever Aunt Lidia said as the gospel. Sometimes her stories contained what can be considered mildly “bad words”, but to me they were not bad when Aunt Lidia used them. In later years, I did come to question Aunt Lidia’s statement that a man can’t take away education. One lick over the head can render a person “brain dead,” in which case all the diplomas and certifications in the world would be meaningless.
Aunt Lidia was a very religious woman. She carried a Testament with her that contained the entire Bible. The print was extremely small, and one of my favorite memories is of Aunt Lidia reading her Testament, holding the pages close to her eyeglasses, even in the brightest light. A lot of Aunt Lidia’s conversations revolved around religion. Nothing pleased her more than the opportunity to discuss the Scriptures with another.
It pains me to disagree with Aunt Lidia, but after many years of self-examination and church attendance, I have determined the only thing that can’t be taken away from a person is salvation of the soul that comes from a personal experience with God.
If only I could recall Aunt Lidia for just a few minutes from the beautiful city of the sweet forever and discuss this with her, I’m sure she would agree with this statement I received in an email: when you die, “God won’t ask why it took you so long to find Him and ask Him into your house, He’ll lovingly take you to heaven…” because you found Him.
A ten-year-old girl was once asked, “What is the right age to get married?” She replied, “Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.” While twenty-three does seem like forever to a child, with maturity, realization comes that, unfortunately, nothing on this earth is eternal.
So many things help one realize this. Just this week the bankruptcy of Bed, Bath & Beyond was announced. My thoughts go to other businesses, local and regional, that no longer exist. Locally many will remember Bailey’s Department Store, Wise Pharmacy, the Pizza Parlor, Ailor Mortuary, Connie’s Boutique, Seymour Charter Bus Lines, Holloway’s Service Station, Jarvis Welding, Shoffner’s Furniture and Appliances, Stowers’ Department Store, and Hensley’s IGA/Food Center. Regionally there was Miller’s Department Store, K-Mart, and Sears. So many assumed these businesses would continue “forever.” Their demise only highlights that all things on this earth are temporary.
I received this in an email:
. . . my mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.
Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away … never to return … So … While we have it … it’s best we love it … And care for it … And fix it when it's broken … And heal it when it's sick.
This is true. For marriage … And old cars … And children with bad report cards … And dogs with bad hips … And aging parents … And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.
Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.
There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special … And so, we keep them close!
Good friends are like stars … You don't always see them, but you know they are always there. Keep them close!
Dear Reader, go out and enjoy life today. Don’t waste time grieving that things will change. Stop to realize that though your problems might be great, there is probably someone within a mile radius who has much more trouble than you. Rejoice that trouble won’t endure forever.
One of the late Pastor Oliver Wolfenbarger’s most memorable sermons was titled “There’s a Brighter Day,” and one of his favorite Bible verses was Psalm 30:5—"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
I leave you with a thought from the late great President Ronald Reagan:
“The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”