The Carter Family

The scene is familiar in movies: A person is in a dangerous situation
and there is only one way out - and that door is closing.  The hero
seems to always slip through the closing doorway just in time.

Sometimes the door closes before we realize we should have gone
through it.  I was in such a situation recently - one I've been in on
other occasions.  While helping with a funeral I heard a relative of
the departed speaking about their accomplishments, travels and
relationships.  As I listened I thought, "I wish I had known that; I
would have talked with them more about it."  But now that door has
closed and there is no longer an opportunity.

Each time I have that experience I vow to spend more time with people.
I've learned through the years that each person has a story to tell.
If you ask the right questions and are patient enough to listen,
you'll almost always be fascinated with people you thought were merely
common.  I've found it to be especially so with the elderly.  The
world of their past was a far different world than I've known.  I need
to know what they've seen, endured and learned.

"Closing doors" also refers to sentiments and feelings that are often
unspoken.  Couples neglect to say "I love you" on a daily basis, and
later regret not saying it.  "If only I could go back and say what I
felt!"  But we can't go back.  Time machines are still a fantasy.  We
can only live in the present.

A.P. Carter is somewhat of a legend in the area I call home.  In 1927
he formed a band he called The Carter Family, one of the earliest
groups to be recorded in the genre known as Country Music.  He wrote
these lyrics for a song: "Wonderful things of folks are said, when
they have passed away; roses adorn their narrow bed, over the sleeping
face.  Give me the roses while I live, trying to cheer me on; useless
are flowers that you give, after the soul is gone."  Give me the roses
while I live!

God's word instructs us on this idea of taking time to build up one
another with our time and our words.  Paul, for example, wrote: "Let
no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for
necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers"
(Ephesians 4:29).  Using our words to impart grace - that's the point
Paul is striving to make.  Any of us can do it if we take time to do
so.

Paul was often imprisoned for his work on behalf of Christ.  The
ability to interact with others was greatly curtailed.  But listen to
Paul's description of one who sought him out: "The Lord grant mercy to
the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not
ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out
very zealously and found me" (2 Timothy 1:16,17).  Here was one who
took time to go to the isolated apostle.  Paul was "refreshed" simply
because one man took time to come be with him.

You and I know people who are imprisoned in other ways.  Some are
being held by the infirmities of age and cannot circulate as they once
did.  Others are cut off by cold relationships, rarely hearing words
of appreciation or encouragement.  We have the power to refresh their
spirits, just as Onesiphorus did for Paul.  But the door is closing,
even as I write.

Hurry! - before the door is closed and all opportunities are lost.

Timothy D. Hall