Afterthoughts

John and Lee Bell  Campbell      Where did I leave the past?  Who knows?  I've tried and tried to retrieve the things I've left behind.  You can't help me with my search. You see I've played, laughed, and cried.  Now it's gone.  It would be nice if I could change some of the things I've done for the better.  I can't.  Wishing so doesn't work. Today the wisdom of age has given me a different perspective.  It's not to say it brings about a great breakthrough.  But with the gift of time, I'm more apt to think about my actions.  Now that I've been blessed with the breath of a long life, I can play harder, laugh at myself, savor each moment, and perhaps use what I've learned. As I go into the future, I can love with compassion holding onto the beauty around me and to the hand of God. A Reason I'm not a star that shines at night. Nor am I a sliver of sun that sparkles in flight. I'm only a woman all bent and old.

     Each of us are given special people that influence our lives.  It may be a relative or a friend.  For me it was Grandma Appling.  She left this world at the age of ninety seven.  I'm so thankful for the lessons she taught me. After she passed away, I found this letter among her possessions. Even though she borrowed the words from an unknown author, they expressed her true feelings.. Dear Pastor and Christian Friends and My Loved Kin,      when you preach about heaven, I am interested in that land because I hold a clear title to a bit of property there ever since I was eleven years old.  I did not buy it.  It was given to me without money or price. But the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable.      It is not a vacant lot. For many years I have been sending material out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me.  It will never need repai