After 21 Elementary Students Died Recently

Poetry Page

       Our local newspaper is looking for submissions of Poetry for the Poetry page.   I am very much a poet.   When I look at my poetry collection, as usual, there is not very much there appropriate for publication.  My poems tend to be either very spiritual/religious,  or else deeply personal.    Here is an example.  I am sure they would not want to publish it!!

                                                         Some Will Be Angels                                  

 

Some spirits will be angels, 

angels of assorted kinds.

I do wonder what spirits do,

when eternal life is on my mind.

 

There are surely angels 

of the guardian kind,

who keep us in line and keep us safe,

when we stray or veer away.

 

Some may be messengers, who deliver

a Word which the Lord sends

to direct our path

toward what God’s intends.

 

Some angels will be singers,

—praising God night and day.

(though there is no night there,

for the Light of Glory fills the place.)

 

In the world of the spirit,

I long to sing with the Heavenly Host.

(When I wonder what angels do, 

that’s the part I want the most.)

 

It is not a choir, I shouldn’t think,  

With auditions for alto or bass,

but chosen according to our love of God

and the steadiness of our faith.

 

Some will be companions, 

who guide us so we’re not alone;

they take us from death to life,

and keep us company as we go home.

 

Some will be angels who walk with us

through the valley of the shadow of death,--

sometimes sending us back, 

when our earthly end is not due yet.

 

Some angels are our loved ones

Whose presence we perceive.

 They wait for us in eternal life;

this I do believe.

                                                                        

 

                                                                                                By  Nancy Rehkugler 

 

 

 

No Escaping the Past

    

My husband and I have very different backgrounds.  But I never cease to be amazed at how each of our backgrounds impacted our lives.   The influence of our childhoods, though vastly different,  affected each of us in quite similar ways. 

    Gerry has often talked about how hard life on the farm really was.  He had to go to work in the fields early, and had little childhood.  Toys were pretty much non-existent.  Prices were unpredictable.  Weather was unpredictable.  There were good years and bad years.  There was little money.  The physical labor was grueling, and so on and so on.

    I have often said that the life of a preacher's family is no picnic.  There are endless expectations of one's presence,  one's behavior,  one's appearance, and so forth.  Always on display.  The pastor's wife is expected to participate in all church functions, as are all family members.  The pastor's children are expected to be perfect little angels,  much better behaved than other children their age.   (They rarely are.)

    So naturally, knowing how hard it was, Gerry did not pursue being a farmer when he grew up.  His path led him to the College of Agriculture,  where he ended up studying agricultural engineering and being a professor  and creating farm machinery.  Although he never again lived on a farm, clearly his farm background shaped his character and his career,.   So you could say, in a unique way,  the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree."    In this case, the apple is literal, since he grew up on an apple farm.

     As an adult, I did continue to be an active church member, wherever I happened to be, which was a great variety of different places. So in that way, I stayed connected to my roots.   I had several careers, which included being a teacher and a college administrator.  But in the end,  the church participation turned into a deep commitment, which in time resulted in a strong sense of calling to the ministry  which could not be denied.

    I grew up in the Deep South and had disavowed early on that specific expression of Christianity, which was steeped in racism, and also, sexism, I might add.  I remember vividly a seminary professor saying:  "Every generation will interpret the gospel for their own time."    

    Somehow, that was liberating and I knew that I would have my own personal way of doing just that,  based on my experience,  my education,  my time, place and gender.  And although it is vastly different from my parents' experience,  I believe that I am still being faithful to God and the Gospel.   

    So the bottom line is--although I retired years ago from my full time ministry---I continue to preach because it is basically who I am, what I do.

    Even though Gerry retired even more years ago than I,  every trip in the car involves commenting on the fields and the crops.  Every project of interest involves agriculture in one way or another.   Most recently he has created a photographic record of all the defunct silos in our county and is working on a presentation for the Living History Museum.

      I am currently involved in three different churches.  One we attend and serve on committees.  At another I have been a part-time pulpit supply preacher for the past five years. Recently,  I have added another congregation once a month.

    So my conclusion from all of this is that one is likely to recreate some version of one's childhood and family influences,  or, in other cases,  go completely the opposite direction into some areas that have no resemblance at all to who one used to be.

    Whether one's path turns out to be repeating or avoiding  their early influences,  there is simply no escaping the past.

    

An Interesting Perspective or Two

         I live in a hilly college town in Upstate NY.  Whenever I take the back way to downtown,  I can see off in the distance hills and buildings and lovely scenery.   For some reason,  I noticed a particular scene and saw it in a new light.   I was struck by the symbolism of what was in my view.

       Atop the crest of the hill are dormitories.  Dormitories are where young adults arrive to learn and grow and become someone new and different.  

      The hill in the distance slopes downward from the crest, and the entire sloping hillside is a cemetery.   I could see a broad swath of headstones just below the dormitories.   It struck me as an interesting metaphor.   

    A new stage of life begins in the dormitories.   Lives that are finished rest on the hillside.( I tend to believe there is also something new and exciting that follows--in the realm of spirit.)

      In a different way,  it reminded me of what I felt when I was recently "deadheading" last year's old dead remains from a flowering shrub.   I figured that since they were all done I could easily remove them, which I did.   Until I removed the dead flowers,  I had not been aware of all the buds bursting out of the stems, anxiously waiting to become this year's blooms! 

    The message and indeed the lesson for me in this is that in order to experience the new and lovely one has to let go of what is old and worn and no longer offering anything of beauty or use.

   This would also apply to businesses, governments, churches, schools, organizations, systems, computers and the like.

                                             For such is the nature of life on Earth.