I learned some great lessons from my trips into Grandma’s potato cellar. In the beginning of the season, it was fun to crawl down into the dark cellar under the porch because it smelled clean and it was a safe place to be. As the season progressed, however, the task was not so pleasant. The cellar became infested with spider webs and we had to be very careful where we knelt to insure that we were not kneeling in a rotten potato. Those rotten potatoes exuded the most awful smelling liquid and if they weren’t removed from the cellar, the potatoes around them also began to rot.
At the end of the season for storing potatoes, Grandma would have the cellar emptied, the walls and ceiling swept, and the cellar prepared for a new season.
Like potatoes, we do not live in a world alone. Our attitudes and actions have an effect on the people whose lives we touch. If we are living righteously and are wholesome, we can have a positive effect on the lives of those around us. When we are not, our rotten attitudes and actions have a negative effect on the people in our lives.
I have come to see that my life has had an effect on people around me. It has been painful to see the long list of people who have been hurt by my poor choices and unwholeseome behavior. More than anything, I would like to undo some of those effects.
Just as in Grandmother’s cellar, we had to identify the rotting potatoes to remove them from the cellar, I have had to identify my bad habits and attitudes before I can work on removing them from my life.
Fifty nine years of life has left a long list of people whose lives have been touched by mine. I would love to say I’m sorry to them if only I could.
In the process of working on changing my life, I have learned some things about myself. have had a strong need to always be right. This has been so strong, that I have trampled others’ needs in interest of my own. I need to be a better listener. Although I need to be heard occasionally, I need to make a better effort to listening to what others tell me. Maybe that is why I have two ears and only one mouth.
I need to quit rationalizing my behavior and making excuses for the things that I have done wrong in my life. There comes a time that it no longer matters why I made the choices I did. What matters more is what I am doing about it today. As long as I rationalize, I am denying the Lord the opportunity to work in my life to bring about change.
I am trying really hard to prepare for a new season in my life. Grandma's potato cellar has taught me some things to make the preparation easier.
At the end of the season for storing potatoes, Grandma would have the cellar emptied, the walls and ceiling swept, and the cellar prepared for a new season.
Like potatoes, we do not live in a world alone. Our attitudes and actions have an effect on the people whose lives we touch. If we are living righteously and are wholesome, we can have a positive effect on the lives of those around us. When we are not, our rotten attitudes and actions have a negative effect on the people in our lives.
I have come to see that my life has had an effect on people around me. It has been painful to see the long list of people who have been hurt by my poor choices and unwholeseome behavior. More than anything, I would like to undo some of those effects.
Just as in Grandmother’s cellar, we had to identify the rotting potatoes to remove them from the cellar, I have had to identify my bad habits and attitudes before I can work on removing them from my life.
Fifty nine years of life has left a long list of people whose lives have been touched by mine. I would love to say I’m sorry to them if only I could.
In the process of working on changing my life, I have learned some things about myself. have had a strong need to always be right. This has been so strong, that I have trampled others’ needs in interest of my own. I need to be a better listener. Although I need to be heard occasionally, I need to make a better effort to listening to what others tell me. Maybe that is why I have two ears and only one mouth.
I need to quit rationalizing my behavior and making excuses for the things that I have done wrong in my life. There comes a time that it no longer matters why I made the choices I did. What matters more is what I am doing about it today. As long as I rationalize, I am denying the Lord the opportunity to work in my life to bring about change.
I am trying really hard to prepare for a new season in my life. Grandma's potato cellar has taught me some things to make the preparation easier.
4 comments:
You have a been a wonderful father to me and an awesome grandfather to my children! I've come a long way since way back when, when things were harder than I could have ever imagined, you pulled me up and with Betty's help! I couldn't have asked for better parents! You've stood by me when I needed you most, and I always feel your warmth! I think for the MOST part we've come a long way from hurt!
Oh, and P.S. I love you!
Kent, sometimes the past hangs on to long. You learned hard lessons and have passed all of the past. I think you are a wonderful person. I'm thankful to be your mom.
Those that forget history are bound to repeat it. Even those that remember are sometimes subjected to similar circumstances and not recognize the danger.
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