Reflections on Turning 80.

I have another birthday tomorrow. Eighty years of looking back gives one an excellent vantage point from which to measure time. And living in the heart of the Ozarks where seasons are distinct and reliable give you another way of measuring the nuances of life.

There is a season for planting when parents and teachers plant seeds of virtues like honesty and hard work, accountability and responsibility, character and reputation, (and knowing the difference), the value of time and money. Things like “you may be poor, but you don’t have to go dirty!”

Then comes the long season of growth. High school and maybe college. That first job and first car. Marriage and children. Raises and promotions. Home ownership. Friendships multiply and deepen. Life is a continuous growing process during this period of time. Still learning something new every day, mostly the hard way - by experience. The biggest mistake we can make in this time of our life is to think it will last forever. It won’t.

Next comes harvest time. Rewards for a life well lived. Adult children and maybe grandchildren. The pace of life slows a little bit, if you are lucky. This is a bittersweet time of life. Some of your friends have already passed on, those remaining have become more precious.

Memories are more meaningful. Reality sets in that things are changing - that you are entering a new stage of life - leaving a past to which you can never return. Memories vs. reality, again it’s important to know the difference.

We remember where we used to go, what we used to do, how we were constantly busy and never seemed to run out of energy. We had no idea that one day all that would be over. The reality is that aging happens, and all the facial creams and hair dye in the world can’t change it.

You give thanks that wrinkles don’t hurt.

Our eyes change. We can’t read the fine print, but we don’t see the flaws in others either. We look at this world through other-worldly eyes, sometimes catching a glimpse of another life, another place.

We wouldn’t go back if we could, but some days when the future seems uncertain, we long for the times that live only in our memories.

Nature is preparing for winter, resetting her clock and calendar as the crimsons and golds and oranges and browns of the leaves and ground shrubbery remind us that another change is coming.

I am now in the fall season of my life. Recently I saw a tree which was bare except for one leaf just hanging on, and to tell you the truth, sometimes that’s the way I feel. If I didn’t have so much more reading and writing I want to do, and people to love and granddaughters to watch grow up, I would be glad to just move on and live where there is no more pain. I have so many friends and family who have already gone ahead, probably more up there now than here. But God keeps us here until He is through with us.

And then comes the final season. The earth and its accoutrements need a time of rest and refreshing, a time to renew. The earth is pregnant with new life, full of bulbs now dormant and hidden in the ground to grow, just as the baby in the womb is in hiding, but growing nonetheless, awaiting the birth of spring, when the cycle starts all over again.

Near Death Testimony from Judge Larry Winfrey

Larry Winfrey has given me permission to share this testimony. Grab a box of Kleenex and maybe a sweater for the cold chills you will get in the middle of it. "During my recent medical crisis, I was unconscious for two days. The following is what I experienced during that time. If you have the time and the inclination, I would be interested in your thought. I am pasting what I have sent to others who have inquired. Thank you! Thank you for expressing interest in hearing what happened to me during the two days of unconsciousness, it has had a profound effect upon me. Whether real or imagined, or you believe it or not makes no difference, it will all depend on your relationship with God. Nor will it affect my appreciation for you. I could not breathe! I remember thinking I was dead and that I was not ready to die. I thought of my family. I did not see any bright light or passed loved ones. I did not see any angels enveloped in a holy penumbra. What I saw was Sata

LDR column published 05.09.12 - Jess Easley

Straight From The Hart By Joan Rowden Hart Jess Easley , Lebanon Historian and StoryTeller I’ve been trying to trace a place called Railroad Pond from the early days of Lebanon. Perhaps some of you “old-timers” will have more information, but I found a reference to it in Jess Easley ’s recollections of Lebanon. Jess talked about skating on Railroad Pond when he was just a kid, and also working to cut ice on it during the cold winters that Lebanon experienced. The grocery stores which had meat markets would hire people to cut ice from the pond to put in their ice house and store for the summer. Jess was one of Milan’s favorite customers when Milan started working at the barber shop with Fred Pitts in 1968, and he quickly became one of Milan’s mentors in collecting oral memories and memorabilia of Lebanon history. Jess was born in Lebanon in January of 1891, and died here on March 1, 1983 at the age of 92 , and had a good strong mind right up to the very end, so he had many memories

Anti-semetism

Vandals knocked over and damaged at least 100 headstones at Mount Carmel Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia on February 27. The Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in St. Louis suffered major damage when more than 200 headstones were toppled and damaged by vandals also in February. After numerous headstones were desecrated at the Waad Hakolel Cemetery in Rochester, the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester New York stated on its Facebook post, “In the past month alone, there have been more than 180 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide. We are deeply disturbed by rising acts of anti-Semitism across the country, including bomb threats made to Jewish community centers, Jewish day schools, and synagogues.” As of February 28 this year more than 100 threats have been called in to 77 Jewish Community Centers, eight Jewish schools and several advocacy offices like the Anti-Defamation League, around the country. In his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday of last week, President Trump said

Straight From The Hart

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