I had sons, but no daughters.  Today, my daughter-in-law, Paula, made herself my daughter.  My son had come to install a bathroom seat riser, and he brought his wife and daughter with him.  He got to work right away, and said he had to go to Home Depot to get a part.

Seeing a chance for an outing after my recent fall, I said, grabbing my cane, “I’m going with you.”  Paula looked at my cane, and said, “No, Dad, the passenger seat in his truck is high, and not for you.”  She gave my son a shake of the head, and I knew now she was my daughter.  The Lord provides for us in our old age.

I don’t know if all the symbolism was apparent to my students (or me) but Longfellow said the Almighty grants to each of us better than our hearts’ desire at the end.  In the climax on the Philadelphia hospital bed, where Evangeline and the dying from the pandemic Gabriel embrace, he is holding the priceless young virgin for whom he searched as his “intended” all his life.

She, in turn, has her hand on the cheek of her hero of masculinity, Jesus Christ, her bridegroom (She is now a Sister of Charity) as individualized in Gabriel, and they are both shedding tears of happiness as the long search is over.

You couldn’t have a better Hollywood ending, and Longfellow wrote about these “Cajuns” back when people knew they came from Acadia (Nova Scotia).

The doctor had waned me: a fall at my age could be fatal.  Ungrateful wretch that I am, it wasn’t.  I had a cup of coffee in my right hand, and I don’t know what in my left, and I turned backward to the right.  The spin took me right down, and I am suffering now from black and blue marks and a swollen right leg.

It could be worse, right?  But at eighty-seven, it ain’t easy.  I continue with prayers of thanks and a fresh determination.  I’m resolved to discontinue my profligate ways and be the man I should.

Your life is your one chance.

We all need a little routine in our lives, something we can do without thinking.  If we are on our best every day, when can the body relax?  Knowing how something is done gives us confidence and assurance.                                                          

To be successful I’d say you have to develop a few routines, for the purpose of having confidence and energy enough to finish the more arduous tasks.  So don’t be bored with what the Lord gave you for today’s tasks; thank him for the opportunity to develop skill and error-free confidence.

Life is a balance of effort and relaxation.  Utilize it to the utmost.

I recently saw a chance snapshot that moved me.  A jogger and a homeless man had met on a frigid winter street.  The homeless man, dressed in a thick winter jacket, was absolutely trouserless (probably feces related) and the jogger, dressed in a sweat shirt and sweat pants, was removing his pants to apparently give to the homeless man.  He did have a pair of boxer shorts.

I don’t know who the photographer was, but he caught in a symbolic way the donor’s heart.  To give away one’s pants on a cold winter day takes a heart as big as God’s (almost) and says something for humankind, in today’s news.  I don’t know if I’ll ever see that in this life again.

I know I’m indebted to him who gave his life for me.  Determined was he; he was not the least hesitant.  That was not symbolism.