The Sylvia Family scholarship was presented on March 20, for the second year in a row, to the Sabine Parish High School Student of the Year, Jaeger Ebarb, a graduating senior from Zwolle High School who is set to begin his college career this fall. The Sylvia family commends this bright, young scholar and wishes him the best in all of his future endeavors.
JOURNAL STAFF
The latest chapter in the ongoing process of churches disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church Denomination played out in Baton Rouge on Thursday. Nine United Methodist ministers, four of whom live in Caddo Parish, filed suit on March 13 in East Baton Rouge Parish District Court against the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, South Central Jurisdiction. The hearing of that lawsuit was held Thursday, March 23 and Judge Kelly Balfour dismissed the lawsuit deciding that his court did not have jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit. The judge followed a doctrine that states civil courts do not have jurisdiction since the United Methodist Church has its own court to address such issues.
The petition alleged that the Louisiana Annual Conference is not using the proper process to hold meetings where local churches vote on disaffiliating and it asked the court to enjoin the disaffiliation process from proceeding. In their petition, the nine ministers used the First United Methodist Church of Shreveport as their example of what they consider to be a flawed process.
The Louisiana Annual Conference filed an exception to the petition stating that the civil court does not have jurisdiction to hear this case because the United Methodist Church has its own court that hears these kinds of matters. A memorandum filed by the Louisiana Annual Conference states that the church court has already decided against persons making claims similar to those made by the nine ministers.
On Monday March 20, the First United Methodist Church of Shreveport filed an intervention pleading stating that the church has followed the rules regarding disaffiliation and explained the steps taken by that church. The church stated that a meeting is scheduled for April 16 where a vote is to be taken and if that meeting is postponed, it is unlikely that another meeting can take place before the time for having such meetings has expired. At the meeting, two-thirds of the persons present must vote to disaffiliate in order for the church to disaffiliate and thereby become a Methodist church, independent from the United Methodist Church.
The First United Methodist Church of Shreveport is scheduled to vote April 16, 2023 on whether to disaffiliate or remain a member of the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. Over 67 Methodist churches in Louisiana have already voted to leave the UMC denomination.
Sometime late last summer, early fall, I finally found some yard tools that did not require a pull cord, oil mixtures, or any stress whatsoever. I truly never really wanted to own anything like it because I always felt like that was a man’s job.
And I just wasn’t interested in all of that manual labor. I loved to push mow, plant flowers and care for them but heavy duty lifting and cutting did not appeal to me very much unless it was a necessity. Until I found these my special yard tools.
These tools were really cute and trendy. They were lime green, trimmed in black with a sleek stylish look. They came with interchangeable parts and batteries. The battery could be used for the blower, the pole saw or the hedgers. They make more interchangeable tools as well but I am not trying to do too much. That is a man’s job.
When this Spring sprung early, I knew I was missing my window to cut back my Crepe Myrtle trees, large Camellia bushes and other nameless trees. This past weekend I pulled out all of the tools and attempted to trim everything that needed trimming. Once I had everything ready to go, I quickly discovered the pole saw was uncomfortably heavy. Instantly I became salty. Because this is a man’s job.
I was so distraught over the heavy tools that I got my phone out to take pictures of the pole saw so I could post it for sale on Facebook. I was completely defeated, upset, sad, mad and all of the other feelings that come with being distressed over doing a man’s job. Typically when I am feeling overwhelmed and exhausted because of working hard with three jobs and single momming…. it doesn’t take much to make me sensitive about doing what should be a man’s job.
It was definitely poor pitiful me time. I sat on the porch with phone in hand and just cried for a few minutes. My whole yard life was flashing before my eyes. After the pity party, I asked God give me strength to take care of my family and my home and if using a pole saw was not in my future then please bless me with the money to hire someone. And if he did bless me with someone to pole saw my yard up, please make him single, tall, dark and handsome.
After reflecting for a while, not posting the pole saw for sale online, I decided to try again. If I just cut one limb a day every day for a year…it would add up over time. I could “Shawshank Redemption” my yard. One limb, one rock, at a time.
When I dried the tears and quit whining, the Holy Spirit ever so gently reminded me that single parenting is hard and I was made to do hard things. A single mom has to be the mom and the dad on most all occasions. I was also reminded whether it is a woman’s job or man’s job, he has equipped me for both. There is no distinction between the two when you are working hard and taking care of your family. God honors our hard work.
Even though I was initially feeling like a Proverbs 31 woman failure…the Lord helped me pull it together on my porch. Like he always does.
“She evaluates a field and buys it; she plants a vineyard with her earnings. She draws on her strength and reveals her arms are strong. She sees that her profits are good and her lamp never goes out at night.”
Proverbs 31:16-18
Sabine Medical Center is currently hiring for the following positions:
Dietary Cook- Full Time
CFO/ACFO
Physician Relations Community Outreach Director- Full Time
2 RN ER Nights- Full time
1 LPN Nights Med Surg- Full Time
1 RN Nights Med Surg- Full Time
Walter White stood in his ransacked living room on a lane in New Mexico’s largest city. One of America’s most wanted men, dying of lung cancer, he surveyed the wreckage and remembered. His thoughts carried him to his 50th birthday party, to a conversation that started him down the dark road of greed, death, and wickedness.
It was only twenty-four months later, but the lines and creases in that haggard face seemed as if at least a decade had passed by. It wasn’t the years but the mileage. His expression clearly told the tale better than words ever could – If I could only do things over.
These are images from AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” which went off the air over a decade ago. It was on over the weekend, and I stopped by for the final frames. The program aired for six seasons and told the story of a gifted high school chemistry teacher who begins manufacturing methamphetamine to secure a future for his family following his diagnosis of terminal cancer.
What follows are 62 episodes of misfortune and like Walter says of chemistry, “a study of transformation.”
Throughout its run, what I found most fascinating about the series was its family dynamic. At its core, it wasn’t a program about drugs, guns, and violence but rather about one family’s struggle to hold together under the heavy weight of lies, mistrust and poor decisions by its heads of household.
Walter justified all his actions by saying they were made for the benefit of his family. It was only in the end, after he had lost everything, including that family, he finally admitted all his actions were done only for one person. “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it,” he told his estranged wife midway through the episode. “I was alive.”
Before he made his exit to avoid the police hunting him, he asked with a breaking voice, “May I see her?”
The “her” was his two-year-old daughter, who was slumbering quietly in the next room. Walter gently stroked the child’s hair, exhaled, knowing he would never see her grow, smile, and giggle while opening Christmas presents, talk of boys or have long walks with an aging father.
With only a look of apology to his wife, he made his departure. Then at a corner of the shabby apartment complex where his family now resided, he watched silently as his 16- year-old son disembarked the school bus. In the previous episode, the son had harsh words of finality, not understanding his father’s actions, but hating him for them all the same. Walter watched the young man a final time, so many things to say, so many regrets and so many wrong turns made because of ego.
I won’t go on from there, won’t discuss the final acts of television’s Meth king, because none of those things matter. What mattered about the show, as it does in real life, is the effect we all can have, for good and for ill, on those we hold most dear.
So many times we act in our own best interests. I am no exception. And so many times, our acts harm those we love. Walter White connected with many of us in the beginning because he was an American tragic hero. Motivated by fear and what he deemed a meaningless life, he launched himself on an incalculable flight of recklessness and destruction. Then he lost us in the bloodbath. But in the end, he made a connection once more through his regret and remorse for wronging those he loved, those he took an oath before God to protect and defend.
While the decisions we make every day rarely compare to the dramatic ones of Walter, we are all faced with forks in the road. How many important decisions are based solely on what’s best for “me” rather than what’s best for “us”?
I have two daughters and a wife. I’ve tried to weigh every difficult decision on a scale where I put myself on one side and my three girls on the other. That’s the only way to live life, but it’s a hard way to live life in a world that tells us the individual is all that matters. But nothing is more important than the ones under your roof, the ones you pray for at night and the ones you tuck in before those prayers are said. Who we are is largely attributed to the fair and foul decisions of our parents.
In the final moments of that final episode, Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” began to roll and the lyrics “Guess I got what I deserve” blared.
Walter got what he deserved. But his family did not. And I think that’s the lesson the audience can learn from a television show about methamphetamine use. We may not be considering a dip into the criminal life but remember that even the smallest decisions must be made with equal discernment and consideration. Consideration given to those who have the most to lose.
How do you pick up the pieces of a shattered life? It’s easier to just never let the glass break.
Josh Beavers is a teacher and a writer. He has been recognized five times for excellence in opinion writing by the Louisiana Press Association.
A memorial service honoring the life of Christian Edward Beyer will be held on Friday, March 24, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at Davis Springs Southern Methodist Church, 203 Davis Springs Road, Campti, LA 71411, with Bro. Olan McLaren and Bro. Truman Leach officiating. Visitation will be held prior to the service from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
Christian Edward Beyer was born the son of Eddie & Anna Belle on May 28, 1952 on the 2nd floor of the Schwartz Drug Store at 7th and Main in Galena, KS. Christian had a four-year tour as a high school dragster and football linebacker at Riverton High School, graduating in 1970. He sang baritone and acted his way through Coffeeville Community College before transferring to his beloved Kansas State University, where he majored in Broadcast Journalism. After some short sales and carpentry gigs, Chris became a Radio Man. His booming voice and catchy ads have been heard on radio stations all across the Midwest and South culminating with 16 years at BDC Radio (KDBH & KVCL). Christian was a BBQ aficionado and a devoted family man who enjoyed spending time with his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Anna Belle Beyer; his paternal grandparents, Harry Clifford and Grace Mae Beyer; and his maternal grandparents, James Newt and Josephine Gandy Christian’s survivors include his wife, Elizabeth “Liz” Anne Hines Beyer of Campti, LA; his son, DeLane Godwin of Goldonna, LA; his daughters, Erin B. Beyer O’Malley and husband, Patrick, of Chillicothe, MO, Alexandra M. Beyer Cabra and husband, Bernie, of Chillicothe, MO, and Rachel L. Godwin Cason and husband, Corey, of Campti, LA; his sister, Shirley Beyer Collins of Galena, KS; along with 10 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, work family, friends, and other relatives.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Christian’s church, Davis Springs Southern Methodist Church, 203 Davis Springs Road Campti, LA 71411.
The Beyer family would like to thank the Emergency Services Personnel of Natchitoches Regional Medical Center, along with Dr. Warren Botnick and the Emergency Room/ICU Staff.
Condolences can be made to the family at www.rose-neath.com
Kilpatrick’s Rose-Neath Funeral Home
Many Chapel
Many, Louisiana
By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES — A year to the day after choosing Corey Gipson as his first head coaching hire at Northwestern State, Demons’ athletics director Kevin Bostian tabbed Gipson’s replacement Tuesday evening.
Tallahassee Community College’s Rick Cabrera will officially be announced today as the Demons’ next head basketball coach. He has 150 wins and only 44 losses (a .773 winning percentage) in six seasons as a head junior college coach and will lead TCC’s Eagles into a second-round National Junior College Athletic Association tournament contest this afternoon in Hutchinson, Kan.
Gipson, who led NSU to a 22-11 mark in his only season, accepted the head job at his alma mater, Austin Peay, four days after the Demons lost in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game.
Cabrera’s hiring was confirmed late Tuesday night by NSU assistant AD for media relations Jason Pugh. CBS Sports college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein was first to report the hire, followed locally by Tim Owens of KTAL-TV in Shreveport.
Two others were also reportedly in the final mix, according to various college basketball analysts: New Orleans native Quannas White, an assistant coach at No. 1-ranked Houston, and Alcorn State third-year head coach Landon Bussie, who has led the Braves to two straight Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, and a pair of National Invitation Tournament appearance.
Cabrera, who has 13 seasons of Division I assistant coaching experience, is expected to be introduced in Natchitoches sometime next week, said Pugh.
While Cabrera has no direct ties to Northwestern State, he does have a good point of reference. He rose from assistant to associate head coach at Tennessee Tech while on staff there from 2012-17, working under former Demons’ assistant coach Steve Payne, who was on J.D. Barnett’s NSU staff in the mid-1990s.
Cabrera is finishing his second season as head coach at Tallahassee. From 2004-08, he was head coach at Lackawanna (Pa.) College, going 100-29 in four seasons. He has won three Coach of the Year awards, including this season as the 12th-seeded Eagles carry a 29-5 record into their game today against No. 5-seeded Salt Lake. He is 50-15 at TCC.
TCC held a No. 7 NJCAA Top 25 poll ranking at the end of the regular season. Five players earned all-conference honors.
Along with his stint at Tennessee Tech – his alma mater – Cabrera has been an assistant coach at Arkansas State, Austin Peay and Chattanooga, where he helped the Mocs win the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament championships on the way to a 2009 NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Jeff Lebo.
As a player at Tennessee Tech, he helped the Golden Eagles win an Ohio Valley Conference regular-season crown. He began his career as a high school assistant coach in Miami, Fla., and in Tennessee, and was a graduate assistant coach at Tennessee Tech before becoming a fulltime assistant at Keystone (Pa.) College.
A native of Manhattan, N.Y., Cabrera played professionally in the Dominican Republic, where his father Hugo Cabrero is one of the country’s all-time great pros. Ironically, NSU freshman sensation Hansel Enmanuel, who is one of seven NSU players entering the transfer portal on Monday, is a native of the Dominican Republic.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
Samuel “Cole” Pickett, center, a senior at Many High School, signed to join the Northwestern State University Fishing Team. Picket will attend NSU on scholarship as part of the university’s competitive bass fishing team. Pickett will also be in the President’s Leadership Program while majoring in Health and Exercise Science. He hopes to eventually become a physical therapist. He is pictured with his parents, Andrea and Brad Pickett. The NSU Fishing Team is open to all NSU students. For more information on the NSU Fishing Team, email team sponsor Juddy Hamous atjuddyh@nsula.edu or call (318) 332-0565.
Central Sabine Fire and Many Police are holding their Egg-Stravaganza on Saturday, April 1 at the First United Methodist lawn in Many. It is a free community event, with egg hunts, photo props, the easter bunny and Sparky. Door prizes are offered for all age groups:
At the Harrington Law Firm, we spend a great deal of our time fighting with insurance companies in order to compensate our clients for legitimate damages resulting from car, big truck, and motorcycle wrecks.
Because of that, it may seem a bit odd that we are recommending to our clients and other drivers to buy more insurance. On its face, it may look as if we are trying to help out the very same companies that we are fighting. What we are actually doing is urging all drivers to protect themselves and their families by purchasing Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage as part of their automobile policy.
It probably won’t come as a surprise to many reading this to learn that statistics show that over 1 in 10 drivers on our Louisiana highways are driving with absolutely no insurance coverage. Of the drivers who do have insurance in non-commercial vehicles, more than half have “minimum limits” liability coverage. (Under Louisiana Law, non-commercial drivers are required to carry a minimum of $15,000/$30,000 in liability coverage.)
What this means is that when someone has minimum limits coverage and the driver negligently causes an accident resulting in injuries and damages to another person, the most that the insurance company will have to pay is $15,000 for a single injured party and a cumulative total of $30,000 for all injuries and damages to all parties, no matter how many there are and no matter how much the injuries and damages are.
These limits include damages for pain and suffering, medical bills, lost income, disability, etc., etc.
In other words, if a person sustains serious injuries in an automobile accident as a result of another person’s negligence with huge medical bills, loss of income, etc., and if that person only had minimal limits insurance the most that claimant will be able to collect is $15,000.
Of course, even worse, if the driver negligently causing the accident has no insurance, then there is no one to collect from and party or parties are, simply put, out of luck!
One might think you could simply sue the person who caused the accident individually and make them pay. While that is true that person would be individually liable for the damages he or she caused, our experience at the Harrington Law Office is that in situations where the driver causing the accident is uninsured or has minimum limits, it would be extremely rare that they would have the personal financial assets or income to compensate the injured party. Even if you sued them personally and got a judgment, in most cases they could simply file bankruptcy and get out of it.
So as Louisiana drivers, how can we protect ourselves and our families against these potentially devastating results? The answer is simple. Make Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage a part of your automobile policy.
Louisiana Law requires that when a person purchases a policy of automobile insurance, Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage will be a part of the policy unless the purchaser rejects that coverage. In other words, when you buy car insurance, you must sign or initial your application rejecting that type of coverage, or you will automatically have it.
Unfortunately, because of high insurance costs, many people simply tell their agents they want the cheapest coverage possible and end up rejecting Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage. Thereby, they are leaving themselves vulnerable to those Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists who are traveling our highways.
PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOU FAMILY AGAINST THOSE DRIVERS! Make certain that your automobile policy includes Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage! It is relatively inexpensive and could help you avoid a catastrophic financial loss should you or someone you love be injured or damaged by an Uninsured/Underinsured driver. Also, do not try to save a few dollars by purchasing “Economic Only” Uninsured/Underinsured coverage. This would only compensate the injured party for medical bills and lost income but not for pain and suffering, which often can be substantial.
Again, the difference in cost between regular Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist and “Economic Only – UM,” is fairly insignificant.
In conclusion, while it may seem strange for us, Personal Injury Attorneys, to recommend that you help the insurance companies by buying more insurance, what we are really doing is recommending that you protect yourselves, and the only way to do so is making sure that you have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage.
The main office of the Harrington Law Firm is located at 459 Jefferson Street in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and partners, Rodney and Eddie Harrington represent clients all over Louisiana in all types of injury cases including automobile accidents, slip and fall, and medical malpractice. They also handle bankruptcy and debt negotiation, Social Security claims, and successions. For a free appointment, call 318-352-5900.
This was a favorite time of year for Rolly Walker, not that he didn’t appreciate the other times because Rolly was if anything a day-to-day guy, not a prima donna or a guy demanding to sing lead. Rolly was blue-collar DeQuincy, Loooosiana, ready to chop wood and carry water soon as the sun came up.
“You always get to choose your attitude,” Rolly would say, then he’d strap in whether it was a cold day in January or his turn to go off on No. 10 in the Fall Church Scramble.
But springtime was his wheelhouse. Long and lean and smart and resourceful, he was a good athlete and natural at so many things, a hoops player who appreciated the wonder of March Madness and a track star — track was his favorite — and a golf nut because it put him outside in his Father’s World and with friends and you could play it forever and you could mess with people and do funny stuff, enjoy the pace, be at peace with the way the round and the day dripped away. You could slowly “celebrate the temporary,” another thing he’d say that kept this athlete-turned-coach-turned-preacher in the moment.
Years ago, a member of his Methodist congregation, Mrs. Loretta, she started writing down those sayings. She called them “Walker Wisdom — gems to ponder in your heart and live by daily,” and she drew a big heart in the script and around it wrote many of these “gems” so the sayings expanded into bigger hearts …
Don’t take yourself too seriously … Life is full of choices … Say, “I love you!” … You can’t please everybody …
And she splashed color all over it and his family appreciated that. So much so that at the recent celebration of his extraordinary 84 years, there were stacks of reprints at Trinity Methodist in Ruston, and anyone could get one, and I did, standing way in the back behind all those people there to honor Rolly.
Don’t stir manure … Make every day a master-peace … Are you fun to live with? … Eat dessert first …
I never got to eat with Rolly. Never rode around in the car with him. I think we suggested it a time or two…
He read by stuff for years, and I listened to his sermons, and we saw each other here and there and exchanged many letters and books and he was just a joy. He was a man disinclined to condemn the world for all its injustices, although he understood better than most the dangerous pickle, we were in. Instead, he chose to walk with grace, to make sure grace happened whenever it might be his turn to get in the starting blocks.
Rolly was like a good medicine, a homespun cure. His whole secret, which he never tried to hide, was simplicity. His life was Poe’s purloined letter, left in plain view if we’d only take the time to look.
The jug is always full … Don’t keep score … Shalom.
When Grace and Mercy breathed, they sure did look a lot like my old friend.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu and Twitter @MamaLuvsManning
Applicants must register in person beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, 2023.
Registration will close promptly after the third race.
ENTRANTS MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN
By Brad Dison
The residents of Washington Township’s Fourth Precinct in Ames, Iowa were unenthused about the upcoming 1972 presidential election. The Democratic Party’s nominee was Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against the incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon. The residents of the Fourth Precinct cared nothing for the campaign promises of either candidate. In fact, because of a new redistricting plan, the residents of the Fourth Precinct showed no emotion at all about the upcoming election.
In the spring of 1971, the Iowa Supreme Court drew up new legislative districts in an effort to produce House and Senate districts of equal size. Iowa state law required all precincts to be of nearly equal population but the precincts could not cross legislative lines. The law about legislative lines took precedent over the population provision. In not so simple terms, a precinct had to be wholly contained within a legislative district. No part of the precinct could extend into another legislative district. As the Des Moines Tribune explained, “the precinct is bordered on the north by a legislative line, and on the other three sides by the City of Ames to which it cannot legally be attached for voting purposes.” Therefore, the new redistricting plan created the Fourth Precinct.
On election day, Nixon won in a massive landslide and received nearly 18 million more votes than McGovern, the widest margin in presidential history, and all without the help of the Fourth Precinct. Not a single resident of the Fourth Precinct visited the polls on election day. Not one. None of the residents of the Fourth Precinct gave an opinion on the presidential election before or after the election. You see, due to the quirk in the Ohio State Legislature’s new redistricting plan, there was only a single building in the Fourth Precinct, a facility known as the Experimental Animal Production Area. All of the residents of the Fourth Precinct were pigs.
Sources:
1. Des Moines Tribune, November 2, 1972, p.1.
2. Sioux City Journal, November 3, 1972, p.15.
Ollie “Dean” Harrington Maley
July 5, 1941 – March 16, 2023
Service: Wednesday, March 22 at 11 am at Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home
Angie B. Washington
March 17, 2023
Arrangements TBA
LDWF’s Fishing Course Series program (FCS) announces several upcoming courses over the next few months, including the new Beginner Bass Fishing course. These free courses will provide new and experienced anglers with useful information and skills to help improve their fishing trips. Since space is limited, you can register to secure your spot.
Each 2-hour class will be open to all ages and limited to ten participants. The course curriculum will be fast-paced and geared towards educating adults in order for them to guide children during the fishing portion of the program. Equipment is provided, but participants are also encouraged to bring their own gear. All in attendance will take home a package of informative material, starter tackle, and gear courtesy of Cabela’s, Magic Bait, and Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana. Anglers 18 & older must possess a valid recreational fishing license to participate, and anglers under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Seven different courses will be offered at sites across the state:
To register for one of the FCS courses, visit www.louisianaoutdoors.
The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit them at www.wlf.la.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ldwffb or follow them on Twitter @LDWF.
The Fishing Course Series is hosted in conjunction with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation (LAWFF). The LAWFF was formed to help expand and support LDWF education and research programs with additional resources developed through its own facilities. Encouraging support for LDWF programs is the major focus of the Foundation, accomplished by connecting people and businesses with Louisiana’s natural resources. For more information, visit www.lawff.org.
The Fishing Course Series is funded by the Sport Fish Restoration Fund, a USFWS grant program that provides grant funds to the states, the District of Columbia and insular areas fish and wildlife agencies for fishery projects, boating access and aquatic education.
The Food Bank of Central Louisiana is holding a food drive where all donations will be distributed to Sabine Parish residents. Donations can be dropped off at the Sabine Parish Library in Many. Food pantry distribution times and locations are as followed:
During the early Fall I felt the need to add a couple of pieces of clothing to my very tired wardrobe. Having to wear clothes to work everyday, as most humans do, truly gets tricky after a while. You feel like you wear the same thing every day. Sometimes I will find a favorite piece of clothing and wear it so much that it fades, loses its original color or even goes out of style. Sometimes I feel like my clothes have no personality or life left in them so I have to pep it up.
On a particular trip to the store I found a pair of hot pink pants. I immediately felt a soul connection with these pants. They were bright, soft, affordable and came in my size. It was a win on all fronts. As I approached the cash register I silently wondered if the pants were in season. I could tell that they were new to the shelves, they were well stocked, it was early fall…so surely this pants were in season and meant to be purchased.
Just as I was checking out I noticed the tag on the pants read “Season-Less”. The clothing tag read my mind, it knew that I had trepidations. Then I considered the color. What would I wear with it? I quickly scanned my closet mentally and found a black turtle neck, long sleeve navy t-shirt and possibly a denim jacket…if I didn’t sell it or donate it. Dress it up with some bobbles and I would be in business.
Even though I had made all of this peace with my purchase, as soon as I walked in the house my youngest daughter scolded me.
“Who wears hot pink pants in the winter?” Why would you think you can wear summer pants when winter season is coming?”
I immediately began defending my decision by showing her the tag that clearly stated that they were season-less pants. I sarcastically explained what that meant but she wasn’t picking up what I was putting down. Soon after the drama over my pants faded away I began to wear them. Everywhere I went I received compliments over my pink pants. As soon as I would receive a compliment I felt compelled to share the fact that… “they were season less pants”…..
Many people have moved past the age old fashion standards of only wearing certain colors at certain times of the year. Season less or not, they were strict rules about color choices.
I used to say that fall and winter were my favorites seasons but the older I get I realize that I truly love every change of season that comes our way. As the winter barren branches begin to take on their light shade of green and the flower buds start to form, it is a reminder that a new season is coming.
Our lives are full of seasons. These seasons have nothing to do with the weather outside or the clothes on our backs. It encompasses all that God has done for us over time. He allows us to be parents and those children quickly grow up, move away and start lives of their own. He blesses us with friends who may outgrow you in one season of life so God moves them aside and sends different people your way . God blesses us with a season where we have both parents alive and healthy, sometimes those seasons are not long enough. God blesses us with a village or community that can change at the drop of a hat. We have seasons of life where we are very comfortable and content, then another season may be full of movement and constant changes.
Just as seasons change, so do our lives. If we stay close to our Savior we will always be prepared for the next stages of life. There is unfailing peace that surpasses all understanding to be found when we are grateful, and keep Christ as our center in every season, and every circumstance, we never know where the next season will find us.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens….” Ecclesiastes 3:1