A “Has Been?”

At age 82, I often think about all the things I’ve done. In the past I have been a singer, a voice teacher, a church pianist, a church organist, a concert artist, a recording artist, a college teacher, a choral conductor, a Bible teacher. I’m not bragging, just humbly astounded at all that God has allowed me to be and do.

At one time I was a newlywed, a young mother, an art student, a tennis player. Those things are all in the past. I miss them, but accept the fact that I have a different role to play these days. And I don’t want to go back and do all of those things over again. Maybe I’m a “has been,” but I’m a happy one.

Now I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandma, a sister, an aunt, a great-aunt, Those roles look different as I age, but they are forever who I am. And I must not forget – I am a child of God. That’s another forever position.

On the other hand, I am a medical patient, a housewife, a gardener (minimally speaking), a blogger, a poet, and a traveler. These roles are not permanent. Just what I do for the time being.

But someday all that is temporary will change. I used to passionately sing a song called “No More Night.” The lyrics say: “No more night, no more pain, no more tears, never crying again.” I don’t sing it out loud any more, but the words and melody ring in my heart with more clarity than ever.

The apostle John was an old man when he wrote his letter we know as First John. In it he reminded the recipients of the glorious future of all believers. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2). And in Revelation, John wrote: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). 

In many ways I am a “has been.” Presently I’m a ”now am.” But someday I “shall be.” Are you keeping that in your sites today?