I Am Thankful Because Patience is Bitter, but the Fruit is Sweet
This year, as always, has given me much to be thankful for. Primarily, I was blessed to celebrate my eightieth birthday. Considering suffering from a stroke, I am in good health. I try to exercise and take walks as often as I can. I walk about one-fourth of a mile, and my exercise regimen lasts about fifteen minutes a day. I still communicate with my friends and family on a regular basis. None of this may seem like anything, to some, but having watched my mother truly suffer after a debilitating stroke for seven years before she passed, I know I have been blessed. My true blessing came fifty-nine years ago when my mother pointed to a girl and said, “You should marry her.” Mama was right. Nothing could have made me happier than the years Ruthie and I have shared. She gave me three wonderful sons who gave me seven grandchildren and a great grandchild that keeps a smile on my face. She put up with me, and stuck with me, and supported me while I struggled to get through Law school and the California Bar. I pray that I have made her happy. Local motivational speaker and author, Jewel Diamond Taylor writes, “Patience is Bitter, but the Fruit is Sweet.” [Jewelmotivates@gmail.com] So I am thankful for my Mama’s choice sixty years ago. This year, I regret losing my oldest sister, Edith, who I had followed through the years. I followed her through our years in local schools and in Church Choirs, and I miss her. I represented her in Federal court for having been discriminated against at her job. We rejoiced in receiving a hefty judgment. I am immensely proud of my three sons and their accomplishment of raising good, upright, respectable children to be proud of. I guess my wife and I have set good examples for our offspring. I celebrated another college graduation of a granddaughter. She is maintaining the family record of going to college and preparing for a bright future. We tried to live by biblical scripture that says, “Train up a child in a way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart.” These are part of the lessons that were taught by our parents and our Sunday School teachers, and we have passed those lessons on. Over the years, I have suffered losses I dearly miss. I miss my parents, Albert and Christine, my sister Edith, and my brother, Albert, Jr, and other family members including Big Mama, Grandma Shaw, my Aunt Loyce, and my Uncle Arthur. The investments and teachings from these, including those from my church family, are still with me. For those lessons, I am so thankful. With each new day, I find something new to be thankful for. I am thankful for life with its difficulties because the blessings have outweighed the detriments, over the years. This reminds me that God has been good to me and mine and I continue to thank Him. I have learned what it means to be true to the word of God and I have tried to be true to his word. His Spirit keeps me blessed, again and again. For that, I say, “Thanks be to God.” |
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