A former teacher of mine recently gave me several books. One of them was titled The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. I believe this is the second time I have read the book, but if so the first was so long ago that I remembered none of the plot.
The book is a good read, but you’ll be surprised if you think there is anything Biblical about the content. Most interesting, main character Eddie never met God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. The storyline is entirely fictional. Eddie is an elderly gentleman for whom life failed to turn out as he planned. He felt before his extraordinary death that he had been a failure. Eddie encountered five people in Heaven, some familiar, others practically unknown, who had pivotal roles in Eddie’s life, and helped him see that his life was not lived in vain. Some of the encounters were positive, others not so much. Their job was to help Eddie understand why things happened in his life (as well as the parts they played in his story) and to equip him to be one of the “five” in someone else’s story as part of his/her Heavenly journey.
Eddie didn’t get to pick his “five”, but the book caused me to meditate on who my own “positive five” in Heaven might be.
Perhaps it might be my mother. I would like to thank her for so many things: loving me, reading to me, teaching me the value of insurance policies, taking me to and nurturing my love for church, helping me form the habit of paying my bills first before buying nonessentials, showing me how to love cats, and for letting me be me.
Perhaps it might be my father. I would like to thank him for loving me, teaching me to be honest, and for letting me be me.
Perhaps it might be Aunt Lidia. I would like to thank her for loving me, telling me all those wonderful stories, encouraging me to go to school, showing me the importance of reading the Bible, and for letting me be me.
Perhaps it might be my oldest brother Fred. I would like to thank him for loving me, taking up for me when it seemed no one else cared, leaving me with wonderful nieces/nephew/sister-in-law who mean so much, letting me visit his house those three wonderful weeks in the summer of 1976, and for letting me be me.
Perhaps it might be my third-grade teacher, the late great Florence Chesney. I would like to thank her for loving me, being the person, I wish I could be, being a literal friend to the end, showing me the great possibilities that life held for me, and for letting me be me.
I also thought about who my “not-so-positive five” might be. Perhaps one of them might be Marie Lynch, my sixth grade teacher. Though I feared her the most of all my teachers, I would like to thank her for teaching me to write legibly in cursive. Possibly one might be Joseph F. (Joe) Day, former principal of Horace Maynard High School. In the beginning I didn’t care much for Mr. Day, especially in eighth grade when he busted my rear end for goofing off in Ms. Needham’s bus wait. With time, I came to appreciate his discipline as it helped me become a better behaved student. I know without discipline my high school years might not have been as successful as they were. Perhaps it was the good friend who felt I betrayed her and failed to understand. Perhaps it might be the lost love over which I grieved. Perhaps it might be a child or animal I unintentionally mistreated. Perhaps it might be the person I unwillingly led astray or badly advised. Perhaps it might be a person whose love I selfishly received and failed to return.
Dear, sweet former Horace Maynard High School English teacher Ms. Winnie McDonald often quoted these remarkable words from John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “Maud Muller”:

For all of sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”

There is a story in the Scriptures about King David that well illustrates Whittier’s words. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and a child was conceived. Second Samuel 12: 13-23 tells the sad story.

13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.
21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

I’m sure King David spent many hours during the rest of his life thinking about what might have been had he not compromised his allegiance to God. Like King David, we cannot change the past, but we can live for the present to affect a better future. We, like the king, are headed to an eternity where our existence will meet our deeds and destiny.
As yet another week passes, I leave you, Dear Reader, with a few pertinent thoughts from the email world.

“Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 2020
because we received notice that you passed away.
May God bless you.
You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”
--Department of Social Services
Greenville , South Carolina

Life is like a helicopter.
I don't know how to operate a helicopter either.

Every box of raisins is a tragic tale of grapes that could have been wine.

"Live life in such a way you would not be ashamed
to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
--Will Rogers

People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point.
The glass is refillable.

Aspire to inspire before you expire.