Sometimes Life Is Good

By Tommy Butler, 2014-06-17

 

Sometimes life is good. Sometimes life is bad. When I think of what could illustrate this truth,
I picture the sea, with the rise and fall of its waves.

Since time immemorial they have been rising and falling. Rushing up the near or distant shores, and then back down again. And again. And again.

Then there are the tides...also rising and receding forever. They last for periods of time even longer than the small advances and retreats of the waves.

So I would persuade you that the water is a representation of our circumstances, the state of a human life or a family. Contemplate how easily the waves rise and fall: Fleeting, precious moments of happiness or pain. Each one unique; that moment will never happen again. Remember these, and treasure them.

Next let the high tides betoken times of plenty when our lives are full and fortune smiles on us. We need to remember to cherish these times while they last, and even use them to prepare for the times that we know will inevitably follow-- the low tides, the times of scarcity.

But what of landings? In their great journey the world over, the waters of the sea will also kiss the land. You never know when. Life's waves will roll us up onto soft sandy beaches, like a spring wedding for two lovers along the warm shore. Could bliss be more pure?

Or the waves can just as well dash us against the rocks in a fierce winter storm, innumerable tons of indiscriminate, unforgiving power beating us against us in the black of night. Relentlessly. Repeatedly against the stone. Grinding rock to sand.

Blessed, peaceful, perfect victory. Cursed, despairing, uncaring tragedy. Both or either can happen more than once in a lifetime. It is devastating. And then it is glorious.

These incalculable and unavoidable landings--life events--form the defining moments of our existence. In these, we are forced to decide what we are made of. We prove weak or powerful; we show ourselves foolish or wise; we become monstrous or we grow more merciful.

Oh then, why must there be rocks? Why can't we on all days land on the a pristine white shore of some lost beach in yet uncharted waters of Capricorn's tropic?

Might I suggest that were it not so, the sea would not be so beautifully perfect? Ageless, truer-than-time, its waters and their motives ever abiding: an indisputable product of both the painful and the delightsome. Never forget that without the rocks, there could never be sand.

So too the affairs of humankind. The Waves, the Tides, and the Landings.

The Untamed Ocean

• The oceans boundless depths,
  Its blue and dancing billows,
  Its might crested waves
  Like giant feathery pillows,
  Has not been tamed by man
  Not taught to obey his will.
  ‘Tis still beyond his power,
  All its menaces kill.
  
  We may ride upon the waves,
  Or in its depths cast our net;
  We may see its waters splash
  On our decks, all foamy wet;
  We may cross to other climes
  On its mighty dancing waves,
  But the hand or eye of man
  Cannot find its hidden caves.
  
  Oh, vast ocean, in thy power
  Thou dost glory, and reveal
  That man is only man,
  That on us, the stamp and seal
  Of mortality doth rest,
  Only God’s immortal will
  Spoke unto the ocean wild,
  Whispered calmly: “Peace be still.”
  
  M.E.V.
  1928

Sunshine (Sunshine in the morning)

• Last evening when the sun went down
  Behind the woos, like a great red ball,
  I wondered how 'twould seem to us
  To never see the sun at all.
  
  But I did not fear at all for that,
  I knew that on another morn,
  If skies were blue, mists cleared away,
  The sun would shine- all bright and warm.
  
  The God who rules the universe
  Is wise and kind, and would not see
  The world dark and gloomy,
  So the sun shines out- for you and me.
  
  By:
  M.E. Van Order
  
  Sponsored by: UV Bulbs, the most accurate in depth guide for finding the correct replacement UV-C lamp/bulb

Solace

• If this should be the last time
  
  I could pick an Easter bloom,
  
  Or walk in mossy wayside lanes,
  
  At least I shall enjoy this day,
  
  And when light and sunshine wanes,
  
  I'll place the Easter lily
  
  In a Window of my room.
  
  
  There's always a last time, my dear,
  
  When one can pick an Easter bloom,
  
  A last time to walk in fields and lane;
  
  But if one can see the beauty
  
  In a walk through moss-grown bowers,
  
  There'd be peace and sweet contentment
  
  In the last day in one's room.
  
  By; MEV

My Good-bye

• This much to you I’ll say- the darlings of my heart-
  
  That though I’ll be away, we’ll not be far apart;
  
  For though I’ll leave you for a time, or if I stay,
  
  Mother love like mine can never go away.
  
  Believe my love is standing by your side,
  
  Whether good or ill may in your life abide.
  
  Believe I’m near, and think the best you may,
  
  For darling girls, my love can never go away.
  
  Mother (MEV), June 2, 1935
  
  Written to daughters Wilma and Ardice, left behind in Michigan when she went to California with her husband and three other daughters; Alta, Avis, and Clova, and granddaughter Mary Helen (my Mother), Avis’ daughter