Take a Breath and Look Around

Take a Breath and Look Around

By John W. Vander Velden

 

We live within a consumer driven economy.  Constantly bombarded by ads that make us desire more.  New cars have features our “rust buckets” lack, they build houses these days with such handy qualities not to mention the extra room we long for.  Whether it is the furniture that we collapse in after a hard day at work, or the size of the TV, or other electronic gadget, we chase after a moving target.  Sometimes it seems that we are coaxed to buy by a “carrot on a stick”, seeking the next thing before the warranty expires on what we have.

I am as guilty as anyone.  We all want the latest, the newest, the best.  It’s only natural, and the marketing guys know it.  But this post is not meant to point a blaming finger at you or me.  What I want you to think about isn’t the desire for the “next” thing, but rather to dwell a moment upon what things you have now.  Shouldn’t we be grateful for what we have?  Shouldn’t we be grateful for where we are?  Shouldn’t we be grateful for the people that make up our lives?

It is by changing our focus from what’s next to what we have, that can change us.  I think back to when we didn’t have a phone in the house, while I hold my cell in the palm of my hand.  No, it’s not a new phone, but it still can call nearly anyone on the face of the earth.  Kinda’ amazing don’t you think.

So take some time to remember when those things you take for granted first entered your reality.  Color television, central heat, the microwave, and all the other “things” that surround.  This is a suitable time of the year to catch your breath, while all the “Black Friday” ads coax us into the next purchases, and in that pause realize that we have a great deal.  That life will go on without the newest, the biggest, the fastest, the smartest, the whatever-est.  Take the time to watch the sun’s setting, to call your mother, or your child, or your grandchild.  Listen to the sweet sound of their voice be they near or far.  Take time and share it with those that matter.  The scent of a good cup of coffee or fresh baking cannot be purchased no matter what the advertisers tell you.  Savor life!  The good things, and yes, the rough parts as well.  For each day is a gift, a gift we too often take for granted.

So today, though my joints ache, I take a breath and look around, and I thank my GOD for all he has given…for HE has given a great deal….

And I hope you will too….

(462 Words)  11-22-2017

Raking Leaves

Raking Leaves

By John W. Vander Velden    

 

 

          There is a yard we care for that is within the city limits of a nearby city.  The reasons we are responsible for that particular yard really doesn’t matter.  We have that responsibility and we care for that yard.  Throughout the summer I mow the lawn.  In the winter I need to keep the sidewalks cleared.  Snow you understand.  But during the fall, it is leaves that require our vigilance.

There is only one tree on the property.  Just one.  But it is a large maple, and maples have a lot of leaves.  Sorry Mrs. Lambert.  Maples have a great many leaves.  My teacher told us that “a lot” was only properly used to describe the area needed to build a house.  But the leaves I blow to the edge of the street are not just maple leaves.  Or at least not just the leaves from that solitary maple tree.  For example thousands and thousands of leaves settle in the back yard and there isn’t a tree back there at all.

The house sits on the corner of two tree-lined streets.  Across the way is a property with ten oak trees.  Those leaves come later.  But the leaves I move do not have labels indicating ownership.  They just need to be moved and moved to a schedule.  It might not seem fair that we need to rake up other people’s leaves.  Can’t they keep control of their own trees, for pity’s sake?  But it really doesn’t bother me, because I know that the wind carries our leaves to other places as well.  They are just leaves, sometimes only a few, most times many, that need to be piled along the curb for the city to haul away.

It’s a job.  Not that I get paid for moving leaves.  But a job that needs to be done and I take a bit of pride in doing it and doing it well.  And most of the people of the neighborhood must feel the same way, because the leaves line the street as far as I can see.  You see we all understand that it is more than about whose trees produced the leaves that settle all so gently on the grass.  It is about caring for your little part of the neighborhood, and in doing so making the whole place a little nicer.

Perhaps there are some that get frustrated.  Perhaps there are some that get angry. But if they do they haven’t spoken to me about it.  It’s life, and for six or seven weeks in the fall each of us rake leaves and not really care whose leaves they once were.

You see during the heat of summer that tree-line street offers shade.  A most pleasant break from the sun’s rays.  And the shadow of each tree is not confined to property lines.  Maybe that’s why few complain about the leaves each fall.  That the benefit we get from those same leaves demand a kind of payment, and after months of shade a few, well maybe more than a few, hours labor is a small price to pay.

So I rake leaves, and I think about all the other good things in my life that require a little “payback” and I bite my lip when I feel like complaining….

(549 Words)   11/14/2017

Childhood

Childhood

 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

If there is one thing that all adults share, it is childhood.  Not that my childhood was just like yours or that yours was like anyone else’s. Childhood isn’t just a title hung on a particular set of years, it is all the experiences of our youth.  We share the fact that we grew up…or at least I hope we have grown up.  We share the process, not the things that occurred to us as we did so.  We all share the broader concept of what childhood was…and is.  A time when we learned so much about the life we live. 

For me, like most, those years, which now live in my memory, were a time filled with joy, heartache, and were mostly what we would call the dull ordinary days between.  But each day, whether I recognized it or not contained lessons just for me.   You see that is what we share.  Not the thousands of experiences that was our individual childhood but that we, each of us, had experiences, faced lessons, many hard learned, and grew.  So when we look back, and not all do, we should do so objectively. That isn’t easy, as we focus on good times or bad…those days we would wish to relive…others we had hoped to forget.  But with the attitude that each moment is a learning experience, a step toward a new place, maybe we can understand ourselves better.  

Childhood is the past. It is something in each of our pasts.  But though the past holds lessons learned, we are not bound prisoner by it.  Learn and go forward.  Learn and grow.  Learn and when it is wise to do so, change.

(282 Words)   6-24-2017

The Past

  The Past

By John W. Vander Velden

 

My dad remembered his past.  He did not speak often to me about the world in which he grew up.  But when kin or friends from Holland came for a visit they would spend hours reliving the years of long ago.

Dad remembered, and dad thought that remembering was important.  But he never took the time to consider why it was important.  He never dwelled on the whys.  The past was exactly that…past.  It brought you to the now, but how it did, really didn’t matter to him.  He was well read and could discuss many topics.  He carried strong opinions…often unswayable views.  But he never saw the reason to just study how the things that had happened in his life shaped the man he became.  I don’t think he ever took the time to even consider exactly what he was.  My father was a decent, hardworking, Christian man, and that was enough.

Jacob Vander Velden, my father, told me I thought too much.  Maybe I do.  It’s nothing new.  I guess I have always “thought too much” about too many things.  He told me I thought too much about my faith.  I’m not certain that’s even possible.  To dad GOD was GOD and that was enough.  He trusted GOD in every aspect of his life without question.  Perhaps I envy that.  Then again perhaps dad kept his questions private between himself and the Master of the Universe.  Fearing that if he didn’t, his children might get the wrong idea.  GOD was GOD, JESUS saves, and the HOLY SPIRIT was everywhere and in us all.  That was clear…black and white…and to him it seemed enough.

He’d learned it in his childhood…his past.  And he did not dwell upon the meanings of his past.

I look at things closer.  I study the whys, when my mind races back to years ago.  Sometimes late at night.  Sometimes when I ride my bike or walk down the road.  I have this need to figure out…why…and how…and sometimes the when.  I understand that these things built me piece by piece.  I also understand the GOD’s hand was in the building one way or the other.

But for me these “deep” thoughts are important.  To remind myself that events touched me in more ways than the obvious.  That I have at times been supported and other times hurt.  Remembering my “feelings” should help me to always consider the feelings of others and tread more carefully.

Yet there were times I was insensitive.  There were time I blundered stomping on the emotions of others “willy-nilly”.  Times when I place my own needs first.  You see I’m human.  But that is not a good excuse.  I understand that I’m not perfect, but….

         As time passes I think about those actions as well.  Those are the most troubling memories, as I wonder how I could have been so thoughtless or careless.  They are the difficult things I face when I judge myself…harshly.  Even years later those failings haunt me.  Growth comes from both successes and failures.  I must remind myself that by not sweeping those events aside as no value, I show myself that I have learned…something.  I understand that perfection is beyond my reach, but my imperfection cannot be an acceptable reason for poor behavior that happened years ago…might happen today…and likely will happened tomorrow.

Maybe that’s the most important thing about the past…my personal past that is…and my continuous evaluation of my history.  To understand me…better.  To strive to make me…better.  To look forward and know that I am both good and evil, but to do my best to keep the dark parts under control.  Always trying to tap in the very best GOD has given me.  To learn from my mistakes and humbly accept my successes.  For today, I stand upon a foundation of the past’s stones, doing my best, with GOD’s help, to build myself into something better for tomorrow.  

(665 Words)         9-25-2017