Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work I caught my image in the mirror and had to laugh. More and more my frame is looking like a sickle, bending ever more to the left, and my ability to stand 'right straight up' actually takes effort where once it was natural. The hair on my head, though still thankfully thick, is much greyer and as the years progress, that darn grey hair grows everywhere. My torso resembles a Google Maps page with new lines, red dots and blotches arising where once an even toned skin existed. Yes, time marches on and with it so many of these physical characteristics come, but on this Canadian Thanksgiving Day it's also given me pause to look back over an amazing life filled with so much to be grateful for.
I thought it ironic that yesterday after getting dressed I got an email from my favorite aunt and uncle, Rod and Janet. It compared our aging with the aging and appearance of a barn. I've thought of it often over the past 24 hours and it's very profound when you let it work on you for a time. Much like many of the old barns I see, especially when pheasant hunting in South Dakota, I'm leaning a bit more than I used to, and don't stand quite as tall as I did when I was young and full of life, but it's the seasons of life that change us, mold us, and make us who we are. Our character and steadfastness are fashioned by the storms of adversity, the hail storms of life, and when the 'heat of the sun cometh, and scorcheth' our metal is truly tempered . It is in all these trying times that we become the man or woman you see staring back at you in the mirror.
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| Old Barn 1 |
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Like myself, it can be a bit of a comical experience. However, unlike 'old barns' that through weather and adversity develop a rustic charm and beauty that no paint or man made treatment can duplicate, it is within our heart and soul that our true beauty resides. We each face different battles of life, and are shaped under unique circumstances, but I can't help but think there is a loving God that knows each of us individually, and he understands what's needed to temper and shape our beings to make us worthy to be called one of His children.
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| Old Barn 2 |
I have so much to be thankful for, a beautiful, safe home, a country where I can live with so much freedom, so many wonderful friends, a job I can rely on and too many more to mention. Trumping all these, however, is the unconditional love of a caring wife and family that sustain me through the storms of life and love me, recognizing that I'm far from perfect. On this day, I express my love and gratitude to them both within our own growing little family and our extended family who are miles and miles away. Nothing can replace family and I'm so blessed to have an understanding that these relationships can be forever. My heart goes out to the many people around the world who live in circumstances lacking a home, job or even food to eat. On a day when we recognize the abundance that we have been blessed with and acknowledge how full our barns are, we should bend a knee and ask that those less fortunate be granted the desires of their hearts and do all that we can to help.
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| Barn 3 |
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
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