An e-mail from an old friend

An e-mail from an old friend
Erich Fromm once wrote, “Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.”
One of my good friends who lives in Ohio and reads this column wrote back in response to last week’s column telling me how cancer and illnesses has affected her family over the years. Her reason for writing was to share her experiences and to let us know she was praying for Barb and me.
Here’s a woman whom I know has had more than her share of problems in life and still took a few minutes of her time to express her concern because she has empathy for others who face the same problems she has already experienced in her life. In our attempt to console others sometimes the only thing we can do is to write a little note and pray for others, if only to let them know “I understand and I care.” We all need a little TLC in our lives from time to time. It’s these people who see this need and take the time to respond for they want to give of themselves if only to say, “Here’s a little ray of sunshine on an otherwise rainy day.”
We can ask ourselves, “why me” when tragedy strikes. We can wonder if God was picking on us for some good reason or is it “just the luck of the draw.” But I’m one of those who thinks that all things have a reason as to the what, where, when and the why. Sometimes it’ll take a lifetime before one can look back and see with 20/20 hindsight what his purpose was in life. We can lament or we can rejoice or probably just be satisfied with making it through. However I do like what Erma Bombeck once wrote, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’"
Whether we know it or not, somebody is always watching us. Many years ago as Barb and I were leaving our church several teenage maidens gave me a plate of cookies that they had made. On the plate was a note saying that they had been observing me and it floored me. Why would anyone want to observe my actions let alone some teens? It’s how we act or react to these events, good or bad, that we struggle through in life that others will judge us in ways which could be flattering or unflattering. One may never know who has you under their microscope. And since we don’t know, how do you want to be seen or remembered? As a nag, a bitter old person who has let life beat them down or do you want to be seen like this lady in Ohio who wears her battle scars with humility knowing that when she comes before God she can say, “I have not a single bit of talent left, I used everything up you gave me while I was back on earth.”