Front Porch Ponderings...A Good Life!
Each Christmas, when my dad was alive, he hosted a "not so-talented" talent show. During the talent show, each of us was to perform some sort of talent, even though we were not an extremely talented group of people. (which made it even more fun).
My dad normally performed a skit of some sort. To this day, I can still envision him standing there performing the skit that he had worked so hard to prepare. Each skit was written to teach us something important...something that was on his heart.
My dad and his sister did not have the type of childhood that most of us had. His mother passed away when he was only 9 years old.
For a while, he lived with his grandmother until she passed away. On the day of her funeral, he went back to her house and stayed there...alone. After all, that was his home.
Days later, a man from the pawn shop called my grandfather. It seems that my dad was in the pawn shop trying to sell his grandmother's wood carving set and the man recognized the set. Dad was trying to sell the set so that he could buy some food.
From there, my dad lived with one relative after another until finally being sent to live with his aunt. At the age of 15, his aunt signed for him to go into the army.
Later, she regretted her decision and wrote to his sergeant...telling him that she had lied and that my dad was only 15 years old.
When confronted by his sergeant my dad begged him not to send him back and told him that he had nowhere to go. After hearing my dad's story, the sergeant tore up the letter and allowed him to stay, My dad said that this was the first real family that he ever had.
Family meant a lot to my dad. He often expressed his love by finding little articles that spoke to his heart...clipping them out and giving them to us. His way of sharing his love when perhaps the words didn't come easily for him. I have one of those little articles that I read at his funeral.
I digress...ponderings gone wild....back on track
On one particular Christmas, my dad dressed up as a hobo. The opening scene was one of my dad (dressed as a hobo) sitting at a table. He is befriended by a waitress (played by my niece). The two carry on a conversation and he tells the waitress how blessed he is. "Blessed," she says "What do you have to feel blessed about?"
"Oh, I have hundreds of things to feel blessed about", he said. In fact, (as he looks up to the ceiling) I could name a blessing for each one of those ceiling tiles above" Then he proceeded to name a blessing for each tile. "Tile #1, I made a new friend today" (the waitress), "Tile #2 I have a hot bowl of soup to eat". (which she had given him) etc. etc.
His moral was this...We can sit and complain about all of the things that we don't have, things that we wish were different, things that we feel are a burden or, we can get busy thinking about all of the things that we do have. When we get into the habit of looking for the positive...instead of the negative...what a world of difference it can make.
Look for some positives in your life today! Grab a piece of paper and start listing all the blessings...it will change your outlook on life completely!
Have a blessed weekend. Remember to sit and do some pondering...it's good for your soul!
I've been praying for each of you this morning!
Missing you today, dad!
Arlene
