Planes, Trains, and Automobiles


I saw a movie some time ago with John Candy and Steve Martin called Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It was funny, but also frustrating to watch. It seemed that everything was going wrong for Steve Martin trying to get home. I think that my life recently feels much like that film. The last week has been a very difficult for me and for many that I love. I am usually at peace and pretty happy. Right now, I see my family members struggling with life and the problems that it brings.
I have many drawers in my mind, and most of them hold happy peaceful thoughts, but there are some that hold only sadness, pain, or misery. Those latter drawers I have closed and marked them to stay closed, but sometimes somehow some of those drawers are ripped open, and much like Pandora’s box, they cause pain and misery. I slam the drawer closed, but it is too late, and the memories, thoughts of sadness of times gone by rush out.
I want so badly to take care of each of our children, but I am not able to do anything of real value. I want to think that it is because I am older, and my mind doesn’t work quite right now, but the real answer is that It is not my place to move in and tell our children what to do. Our youngest is twenty-nine and will be thirty in November, our oldest will be fifty-two in August. They are adults, and I have no real advice to give any of them that they have not be taught and know already.
What I can do now is to be supportive and loving with each child and those they have chosen to spend their lives with. I am always so anxious to rush in and tell them that I know what will happen with the choices they are making, and I know because I have been there and made some of the same choices that they are making. In the long run it seems only fair that they should be able to make some of the same choices I have made in the past and possibly in the future.
The real question is how will I be able to adjust and adapt to the circumstances surrounding me? Where is the sanctuary of my mind going to be? How many of the drawers of my mind that have be opened can I close and put a lock on?
Julia, Nate, Carl C., Anna, Amy, Joy, Mark, Stephen,
Carl J. in front. 
I have been blessed with a super wife, great children who I believe love me and want the best for me. I have a good home, adequate transportation, plenty of food. I have a good Lazy Boy chair and a large TV with a remote. No longer do I need to yell at someone to change the channel. So now I can see the real problem. I want to take care of everything that takes place around me, and I just can’t and shouldn’t. I would be much like Lucifer making everyone do what I say, live as I say. In the final analysis it would not be the right way to go. Instead I will be at peace with what I have and thank God for all He has allowed me to have.    

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