From my heart ...

From my heart ...

Saturday, October 9, 2010

T-Shirts, Blue Jeans, and Bare Feet

Few days lately have been more relaxing to me than this very afternoon, while I rest quietly in the shade on my front porch in my really-needs-to-be-painted rocking chair (I'll get to it later); sporting my fits-just-right t-shirt, my really-loose-fitting blue jeans with ragged-bottom-edges, and my bare-naked feet (except for the bright pink toe-nail polish).



It doesn't bother me in the least that the nothing-compares-with-it North Carolina fall breezes are insistent upon turning the crisp pages of my just-purchased book about Christmas and second chances before I'm even close to prepared to read what happens next.

And every once in a while, when I least expect it, I realize its taken me a too-long period of time to devour just a very few pages of my book simply because my dog-tired eyes have softly closed, apparently unbeknownst to me.  That is, until the fall breezes make the unanimous decision to turn yet another page, or ten, of my book - startling me contentedly back into the comforts of my own home.

Comfortable.  An accurately concise description of the depths-of-my-soul feelings on this not-a-cloud-in-the-sky afternoon in October.

Lunch?  Washing down some cashews and m&m's with a diet coke (yes - diet!) sounds reasonably nutritious.  Certainly satisfying, anyway.

It seems I've waited a near-eternity for these days when there's nothing too awfully pressing that requires my immediate and undivided attention.

On the other hand ... where in the world did the years go?  Wasn't I just eight years old yesterday, playing with Barbie dolls in the back yard of our Michigan home?

I fondly recall - as clearly as if it happened only yesterday - a summer's day in 1966 when, after having played hard all day with the neighborhood kids (there were lots 'n lots of 'em ... remember, I'm a baby-boomer), I told my mom, "I want to stay eight years old forever."  And I meant it.

As a matter of fact, even now whenever I find myself in the company of an eight year old child, I like to tell them, "Eight years old was my all-time-favorite age ever."  I had the time of my life when I was eight, and not a care in the world.

Fast forward ...

I'm going to be fifty-three years old in January.  Fifty-three!  It doesn't seem that long ago that I was under the impression that people who made it to the ripe-old-age of fifty-three were lucky to be alive.

Hey!  I am lucky.

And, as luck would have it, today I happened upon some thoughts which belonged to my dear Grandma Ghiata (who lives in Heaven now with Jesus). 

"Happened upon some thoughts?"  Yes!  These particular thoughts she wrote down.  My Dad shared them with me some years ago.  I read them, then tucked them away in a folder in a filing cabinet - for safe keeping.  I "happened upon" them again today, and I'd like to share them. 

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Here - in part - is my Grandma's long-ago-written letter to her friends and neighbors in her hometown of Spruce, Michigan.

In Grandma Gunda Anderson Ghiata's own words:

"Its later than you think.  This is a saying that has given me much thought of late, and as we know, we shall all come to the end of our journey here sooner or later, and it may be sooner than we think."

"I would like to take the opportunity to tell you the reason of the hope that is in me.  I do feel that the majority of my friends believe that I have only joined another church or sect and left the faith of my upbringing, which is not so.  I was brought up in one of the best religions one can find anywhere, and if religion is all that is necessary to take one to Heaven, I would still be where I was.  But at the age of 17, I was brought under the sound of the Gospel."

"I have been burdened a great deal as to my responsibility of making more public the faith I have in our Lord Jesus as Savior of my soul."

"I learned through the scriptures that I was an unsaved sinner, though religious.  Romans 3 verse 23 says, 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God'."

"I was alone at home one afternoon and with a deep longing to know my sins forgiven.  God's Holy Spirit revealed to my soul the work of Christ on the cross which He accomplished for the very purpose of putting away our sins, and eternal life is ours when we put our trust in Him."

"I know I am saved and have eternal life because God's word says, 'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life'."

"I have no religion, but a Savior; and am only a sinner saved by the grace of God through faith in the precious blood of Christ."

"May you also (if you are not sure of salvation) see your need of a Savior, and trust in Christ alone for salvation and forgiveness of sins."

"Your Fellow Traveler To Eternity, Gunda Ghiata"

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Indeed, this will go down in my own history as having been one of my favorite "t-shirts, blue jeans, and bare feet" days ever. - Lori Ghiata Bowser

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