Stay in God's Grip!
  • Home
  • Todd's Blog
  • Remember Me When
  • Contact

 While in God's Grip!

With every season...

9/4/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1
​

Years ago I took a trip to my childhood home in Southern Indiana in search of my inner child.  For anyone who has overcome a life-changing event, you suddenly realize that planning for the future takes on different criteria.  I thought that by visiting where I grew up, I might once again be inspired to dream again after surviving my illness.

As I drove into the valley I knew as "Rattlesnake Holler" growing up, I passed by the old one room school house that has now been converted into a home.  As a child we would have Halloween parties in this old abandoned building.  

As I rounded the bend, the Catholic Cemetery with graves from the early 19th century, greeted me.  I remember years ago that sometimes the bus would drop us off here, and then we would walk the two miles back into the valley to where our home was.  

There is something about returning to childhood places.  They possess a magical power.  As I parked and began to walk the rock and tar chipped road, I could see where our fence line ran up the hill.  I thought of the times that I had walked that line, checking for breaks, removing limbs, and dreaming of what my life would be like once I grew up and left the valley.

While I hoped to find the inner child that was filled with dreams, I discovered an aged man who had experienced much.  I'm not sure what I had hoped to discover.  

One of the things that we often forget that as we grow older we see the world from different places.  Two year old children see the world from the height of a two year old.  As a teen, we discover the world has boundaries, and we learn what it means to be "us" and "them."  

With each new decade comes new life encounters.  Relationships, perhaps marriage, maybe children, the death of loved ones, and new careers.

God remains constant, while with each new chapter in our life changes.

I love living along the Gulf, but I miss the noticeable changes of season of my childhood. Remembering that first morning you would step out and the air would capture your lungs with crispness and grass would crunch under your feet because of a heavy frost.

It's interesting how time works. Seasons are marked by seeds being sown, and time for harvest. Or along the Gulf it's marked by hurricane season and not hurricane season.

Scripture reminds us that we are Ecclesiastical people with many seasons and chapters in our lives. Helen Keller reminds us that too often when one door closes, we spend so much time looking back at what we no longer have that we fail to see the open window.

I guess it's just our nature to want to look back, or to seek times when we were happy, or carefree. We must always remember though that we are moving forward, writing new chapters, leaving for us the memories and legacies that others will look back upon and remember.

Christ reminds us that he is with us always. You know it's true. Without realizing, every chapter, if I'm honest, begins with hope. Is filled with times of joy, but even in those hours or days when life was sorrowful, or filled with unknowns, God was present.

We may be people of seasons, but God is indeed forever. I hope you will look back and remember it with joy.

​Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017


Dear Lord, help me to make each page of this chapter in my life a powerful reminder that when I look back, it was filled with Your presence.  Amen.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rev. G. Todd Williams lives in the Houston metro area and is a Hospice Chaplain at Essential Hospice, Webster, Texas, and is an ordained Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastor.

    He serves as the Stated Supply to Westminster Presbyterian Church, Galveston, Texas.

    His new book, "Remember Me When..." is available through Chalice Press.

    Archives

    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Todd's Blog
  • Remember Me When
  • Contact