I HEAR DEAD PEOPLE. :)

I hear dead people.  Yah, you heard me. I hear them.  Well, not exactly AUDIBLY, but I hear them.  I shall explain, but first let me tell you what brought me to tell you of this.

Today, on another New Year cleaning organizing binge, I determined that I was going to pull out one of the old trunks, give it a good coat of Tung Oil, dust and vacuum it.  That was interesting, because considering its age, there is probably 129 year old dirt in there.  But there are also family treasures, or “Junk” as my kids like to refer to it. 

I painstakingly pulled all the “Junk” out, pulled out the drawers of the trunk, and stuffed everything in plastic bags.  After all, “Junk” needs protecting from my inept painting rituals.  I attempted as best I could to sort the” Junk” by who it belonged to, and even decided (HOLD YOUR BREATH, KIDS) to throw some stuff out.  So various and sundry boxes and carefully tied ribbons that I will NEVER in my life ever be able to identify the person whose hair they tied, went into the REAL trash bags.

Then I dragged the trunk outside, brushed it carefully, vacuumed it, and proceeded to apply the life -saving oil.  For those of you who don’t know anything about Tung Oil, it is the stuff that our Great Great’s used prior to the invention of Shellac or Varnish.  And obviously it works, because all these years later, that trunk still has the canvas, the wood, the latches; everything intact, except the key.

So after the careful application of the Tung Oil, I came inside to sort and identify the “Junk”.  I had decided a while back that I am probably not going to live forever, and someone in my family may want the Trunk of Junk and perhaps they would like to know what each item is in it, rather than attempting to guess.  Some items were easy; Funeral books, letters in the envelopes, World War II newspapers.  But it was the articles of clothing and some of the other stuff that I needed to label.  I decided that for the clothing, I would just stuff a note in the pocket. Hey it worked for my grandmother!

The first thing I ran up against was a trash bag full of linens, my grandmothers’ bonnet (easy to identify because I had seen her wear it)  and some pot holders that I know she made, because I helped her.  There was also a stack of neatly ironed Table linens, that were made easy by my Dad’s evident scrawl across the bag that said, “My mother’s Table Linens, cotton and linen.”  I quietly said “Thank you, Dad” and sorted through it all.  It’s amazing that each piece is still so neatly folded together with the companion pieces, and still smells something like my grandmothers linen closet.  It’s also amazing that my dad even bothered to label the bag.

On to the Military Uniforms.  I looked at a long overcoat, thinking for sure it was an Army coat, because of the wool and the color.  I could not imagine my dad needing an overcoat off in the Pacific Islands.  And then I heard his voice.  “Look at the buttons.”  Mind you I was not taken back by this, I just did as I was told, as I had been taught by Mr. Marine Sergeant and clearly on the buttons was the Marine emblem.  The second item, a uniform coat, was the same, and the Marine hats were easy to identify, because there is a picture of Dad wearing one.   

Then on to the various and sundry papers that were neatly rolled up.  I know I had seen them before, but never looked at them.  And then a voice, “Take a peek”.  My Granddads’ voice for sure.  So I opened it up, and there were all his diplomas and his teaching certificate from 1912. 

I could go on and on about the things I found in there, that I had never noticed before, and the voices of those gone on before that I heard. 

And I am sure each of you would find it creepy that I hear their voices.  But I don’t find it creepy, I find it comforting.  It’s not like it’s audible, it’s more like it’s hidden away in my heart. 

For there is where they are, each of them, with their smiles and their little laughs, the jigs they danced and the arms that held me.  But most of all, the voices that taught me and directed me in my life. 

Somehow I know they are watching, occasionally going “OH SUSAN” and occasionally rejoicing.  I know they are with Jesus, who also watched them go through this process of sorting through dead people’s stuff.  And He is the one I can hear audibly.  For He is telling me, “These are part of the legacy of your forebears, who are with me forever.” 

A New Year, New Opportunities!

It is 2015, another year, another chance to live a life with meaning.  I have often wondered if my life would matter upon this planet.  With this New Year, I intend to make a dent in the things I have left undone. I am trusting the Lord to give me direction, to find the path and the purpose for my life. This morning, with the new snowfall fresh on the ground, He impressed upon me that there are many sayings that people use as guides for their lives.  The following is the first thing He brought to my mind. And so here is my first dent in undone things for this year.  

Beware the bareness of a busy life.

This one is a warning to those who are so busy making a living they forget to build a life.  Believe me when I say that there will come the day when you will not be able to work to build a portfolio.  If you live a busy life, there will come the day when your Account at the bank may be full, but your life Account will be empty.  Money and things are cold partners. Not only that, those who fill themselves with busyness, become addicted to the day-in day-out workings of a corporate world.  Busyness does not just include the making of money, it includes the filling of a life with tasks that while they bring a semblance of discipline to life, are not fulfilling when it comes to your soul. If you fill up your life with tasks to obtain stuff, you will find at the end that your soul is bankrupt. More importantly, those things may fill up your pockets, your house, or your garage, and eventually fill up the pockets, garage and house of your heirs, but it will not touch one soul on earth with anything that has any lasting significance.  

We were put on the planet to work. But work includes more than just making money.  It is how you do it and why you do it that makes it count for something.  If you do everything from an aspect of love toward your family and fellow man, your busyness will count for something.  If you do it only for gain, you will find your days empty and lonely.

It is necessary to make a living.  But begin your day and end your day of busyness with love toward your family.   Believe me when I say that a neglected child becomes a bitter adult.  I don’t even need to explain to some of you men, what a neglected wife becomes. And wives, a neglected man finds other things to do, perhaps those that he shouldn’t do. So cuddle and coddle your children and your spouse enough to let them know that they are important in your life, and that nothing is more important.  Don’t try to fill their lives with things.  Things will never take the place of a relationship with you.  Spend time with each of them, one on one.  Share your heart, share your dreams, and share YOURSELF with them.  And never forget your sisters and brothers.  Inclusive in that statement are cousins. After all they are just sisters and brothers, once or twice removed, who never had the opportunity to traumatize you. 

If you have elderly parents, aunts or uncles, do not neglect them, even if they neglected you.  There will come the day when you will wish you could spend time with them. Death is the great leveler.  I can truly say that it will come for each and every one of us, and once it does, the opportunities for building a relationship are done. Spend time with them, even if they were one of those busy people who never spent time with you.  Find out what they are about, what made their lives tick.  This is where you will find the clue to why they have done what they have done and sometimes reasons for you to do likewise or avoid at all costs.  

My dad is the greatest example I can give. He was one of those who was always so busy it made him grumpy.  He neglected each and every one of his children and his parents.  He somehow felt he had to earn a living and it was not until his later years he learned he had not earned a life.  The last 5 years of his life, he was a captive audience, living at a nursing home.  I made a point to spend time with him, if not every day, then every other day.  Although I had to take time from my busy schedule, listen and bite my tongue more than usual, and on occasion wonder why I was doing this, I found in the end, that both of us gained from this experience.  He gained introspect into his own life, and I gained understanding of why he was the way he was.  For the first time in my life, I came to know who he was really was, not just who he portrayed to the world.  When he left this world, I found that I truly loved him, in spite of who he had been to me all my life.  For the first time in my life, I had a relationship with my dad.  I will always be grateful I was given the opportunity to make this relationship right.  

    

Do not neglect the others in your life for sake of busyness. There are those who God put in your life for a reason or for a season.  Your friends become your family when your family cannot fulfill that role. Your extended family, those who are in-laws (not outlaws) and their children can be the family you always longed for.  I have sister-in-laws from my brother’s marriages and from my former marriages who are truly sisters.  They call, they write, they are there for me.  I love them as though they were my own, because they have become my own.  I have friends who know my deepest secrets, and still love me, amazingly.

And then there are those random people you meet.  The store clerk who checks out your groceries, the old man in the produce isle who stops to chat you up about the cost of cucumbers and the lady who goes walking with her dog past your house.  You may never see them again, you may never learn their names, but you have the opportunity to make a difference in their life, if only for one day.  Some people have no one.  Some people never see a smile or hear a kind word except on TV.  So smile at someone today that you do not know.  Greet your store clerk.  Let someone know that they matter on this earth at least for one moment.

Give hugs often.  If you are not a hugger, then give a handshake.  If you are a germophobe, nod your head.  Recognize the people who walk the world with you.  If you do the math you will learn that you to each one you may have given only one, but at the end of the day, you got back ten.

God’s math is amazing.  What you give, you get back in multiples.  Don’t clog up your life with busyness, fill it up with love and you will find that your life was not barren, but had some meaning to someone on this earth including yourself.  After all, why else are we here?